At the beginning of the 1600s, the main source of labor was white indentured servants. They were four times more numerous than African slaves. However, as the cost of transatlantic transportation lowered, the numbers of indentured servants dropped, while the number of African slaves rose. This shift caused a change in the way African slaves were treated as well. Some blame the change on events such as Bacon's Rebellion, which lowered the way whites viewed people of color.
Improve the economy, and improve the labor shortage in the colonies.
indentured servants
Because there were no slaves available to harvest the tobacco.
Sandys tried to solve the labor shortage in Jamestown by promoting the creation of families in Jamestown.
Southern Colonies.
white servants
Improve the economy, and improve the labor shortage in the colonies.
shortage
Slavery developed in the Chesapeake colonies because its economy was largely agricultural. It required intensive labor for cultivation of tobacco and other crops, thus the Chesapeake planters turned towards slavery.
indentured servants
The labor force for the Chesapeake colonies primarily consisted of indentured servants and, later, enslaved Africans. Initially, many laborers were English indentured servants who agreed to work for a specified period in exchange for passage to the Americas and the promise of land or freedom afterward. As the demand for labor increased, especially for tobacco cultivation, the colonies increasingly turned to enslaved Africans, leading to a significant shift in the labor force by the late 17th century. This reliance on enslaved labor became a defining characteristic of the Chesapeake economy.
Landowners in the Chesapeake colonies turned to chattel slavery for labor because they needed a reliable and cheap workforce to cultivate labor-intensive cash crops like tobacco. Chattel slavery provided a consistent labor force that could be easily controlled and exploited for maximum profit.
Landowners in Chesapeake colonies began using chattel slavery primarily for economic reasons. Enslaved labor was seen as a more efficient and cost-effective way to produce labor-intensive crops like tobacco. Additionally, the racial hierarchy that developed in the colonies supported the idea of using enslaved Africans as a permanent underclass for labor.
Because there were no slaves available to harvest the tobacco.
Barbados and the Chesapeake colonies differed primarily in their economic focus and social structure. Barbados developed a plantation economy centered on sugar production, leading to a reliance on enslaved African labor and creating a wealthy elite class. In contrast, the Chesapeake colonies, such as Virginia and Maryland, primarily cultivated tobacco and had a more diverse economy, which included smaller farms and a mix of indentured servants and enslaved labor. Additionally, the social dynamics in Barbados were heavily stratified, while the Chesapeake had more varied social classes due to its different agricultural practices.
the usage of indentured servants, and the fact that natives knew the land and would escape easily
The Southern Colonies The Southern Colonies