In 1612, John Rolfe started to grow tobacco. Tobacco was a major cash crop, but it diminished the nutrients in the soil. Once they had cultivated tobacco on a piece of land, they could not grow anything else because of the lack of nutrients in the soil; the need for more land caused the colony to expand. In 1619, the colonists needed more labor workers to farm in the colony, so African American slaves were sent to North America as indentured servants; slaves were told they would be freed after seven years of service. They needed more settlers to come to Jamestown; therefore the “headright system” was developed. The “headright system” stated that new colonists would receive fifty acres of land if they come to the colony, and original colonists would receive one-hundred acres of land if they would stay in the