Southern Colonies Plantation Economy

Virginia  Virginia Company  1607  Profit  John Smith  John Rolfe  Tobacco $ cash crop

Jamestown

Maryland  Established in 1632 by Lord Baltimore  Haven for Catholics  Toleration Act provided religious freedom  Economy based on tobacco

Lord Baltimore

The Carolinas  Founded in 1663  Charles Town  Religious freedom, farming  1729  Royal colony  Governor appointed by king  North Carolina  South Carolina

Georgia  Founded in 1732  Social experiment by James Oglethorpe  Refuge for English debtors  Provided a buffer zone against invasion from Spanish Florida  Religious freedom

James Oglethorpe

Savannah, Georgia

Plantation System  Large plantations required many workers  Labor shortage when indentured servants gained their freedom  Turned to African slaves  Took control of political and economic power in the South

Middle Passage  West Africa  Slaves captured/forced to go to southern colonies  Harsh conditions  Little food  Chained throughout  Disease  Thrown overboard

Slave Ship

Slavery  Hard work - 15 hours per day  Overseers  Lived in small, one-room cabins  Meager food rations  ¼ bushel of corn  1 pound of pork  Preserved many beliefs and customs from Africa  Music, dances, stories

Tobacco Production

" If you're a white authority, you're constantly trying to figure how tightly you want to impose the lid with respect to people running away. How fierce should the punishments be? Should it be a whipping? Should it be the loss of a finger or a hand or a foot? Should it be wearing shackles perpetually?" Peter Wood, historian

Captured far from the African coast when he was a boy of 11, Olaudah Equiano was sold into slavery, later acquired his freedom, and, in 1789, wrote his widely- read autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African.

“All servants imported and brought into the Country... who were not Christians in their native Country... shall be accounted and be slaves. All Negro, mulatto and Indian slaves within this dominion... shall be held to be real estate. If any slave resists his master... correcting such slave, and shall happen to be killed in such correction... the master shall be free of all punishment... as if such accident never happened.” Virginia General Assembly declaration, 1705

How did slavery get such a foot hold in the English colonies in America? Slavery timelineSlavery timeline

Plantation Dance, Virginia (?)

First representative government group in the American colonies. Famous delegates include Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington. The House met for the first time at Jamestown. It was July 30, 1619.