The Introduction Of Tobacco In Jamestown, Virginia

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Joshuah Davis

History 2010 – Essay 1

Tobacco In America

In 1607 a group of 100 men landed along the banks of the James River in Jamestown, Virginia, named after their King, James I. This settlement became the first permanent English settlement in North America. The settlement was funded by The Virginia Company primarily as a potential means of generating revenue. However, like other colonies before and after, Jamestown was almost a failure. It was the introduction of tobacco that changed the trajectory of the settlement and America. Much of modern American culture was shaped by this cash crop.

The first years of the Jamestown colony were troublesome. Within a few months of establishing a colony, the settlers succumbed to various diseases. …show more content…
It was around 1612 that John Rolfe experimented with cultivating tobacco in the rich bottomland of the James River. The resulting tobacco was more suitable to the European palate than previous leaves had been. Within a few years, tobacco from Virginia became the European standard. The popularity of this product was monumental in stimulating the economy of Virginia. Tobacco proved to be an exceptional cash crop for the colony for many reasons. One of the things that made this plant suitable for the Jamestown settlers was that it was simple to learn how to cultivate tobacco. Anyone could cultivate tobacco if they could manage the need for cheap, abundant labor. It was this need for labor that gave rise to indentured servitude in Virginia, another cornerstone of the young economy. It is estimated that up to two thirds of the immigrants who came to America at this time were indentured servants. It was tobacco that fueled the English colonization of the Americas. Another characteristic of tobacco beneficial to the colonists is its need for land to be cultivated. As the demand for land grew, the colonists moved further inland, up the James River and away from the swampy waters near the coast. Further inland, the water was cleaner and there were fewer mosquitoes and less disease. Because of these more suitable conditions, colonists started to live …show more content…
Tobacco is still a major cash crop grown by many small farmers in the south. Many southern families that live in abject poverty have leveraged this “poor man crop” to support their families. Because the cultivation of tobacco is relatively simple, many people chose to forego traditional education in favor of working in the agricultural industry. This general lack of education has had a variety of negative impacts on Americans in the South. The indentured servitude that was so vital to colonization eventually evolved into slavery as a means of cheap labor. Even the American Civil War was fueled by standards and practices that started in Virginia. Because of the economic influence that tobacco provided to wealthy landowners, it created a “good ole boy” network that still exists in the South. This created a socioeconomic power struggle between wealthy landowners and the lower classes. This power struggle has resulted in a general deficiency in the education systems of many southern states when compared to their Northern counterparts. The wealth that was created by tobacco gave landowners political power and gave them control over policymaking. This created a general lack of local governance in the rural south, a trend that is still seen
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