Chapter 3 Section 1

Tobacco became the South’s first successful cash crop, or crop grown primarily for market. Cash crop for Virginia and Maryland.

Rice and indigo were the main cash crops of South Carolina. They needed the right climate and labor to be grown, this led to the growth of plantations.

To make money they had to grow large amounts of these goods and to do so they needed the work force.

Many poor, unemployed tenant farmers in England were willing to sell their labor for a chance to acquire their own land.

Indentured servants- American colonists paid the cost of transportation and promised to provide food, shelter, and clothing for the servants until their labor contracts expired.

In exchange, the servants agreed to work for the landowners for the time specified in the contract, generally about four years.

South Carolina imported enslaved Africans to cultivate rice (Cash Crop)

Eliza Lucas- discovered that indigo grew well on land unsuitable for rice. Indigo soon became another important cash crop.

Why did Southern tobacco planters use indentured servants to work their fields?

To be profitable, planters had to grow large quantities of tobacco; cultivating tobacco was very labor intensive and required many workers.

The plantation system created a society with distinct social classes. Wealthy landowners were called Gentry and they controlled money and politics.

Plantations functioned as self-sufficient communities. In the early 1700s, as planters switched from indentured to slave labor, the size of the plantations increased.

“Backcountry” farmers were farther inland from the rivers. Backcountry or yeoman farmers worked small plots of land and practiced subsistence farming, or farming only enough crops to feed their own families.

By the late 1600s, the South was a sharply divided society.

Top- Elite landownersBottom- backcountry farmers, tenant

farmers, servants, and enslaved Africans.

What was the difference between the planter elite and backcountry farmers?

The planter elite owned large plantations and used indentured and enslaved labor to work the vast areas of land. Backcountry farmers worked small plots of land and practiced subsistence farming.

Sir William Berkeley, Virginia’s governor, dominated Virginia’s society in the mid-1600s. He used the House of Burgesses to only allow property owners to vote. (Backcountry and Tenant farmers couldn’t)

Backcountry farmers wanted to expand their landholdings. But the area they wanted was controlled by the Native Americans.

The wealthy planters had nothing to gain so they were against it.

Pre-RebellionIn 1675 war erupted between backcountry

settlers and the Native Americans of the region. Governor Berkeley’s refusal to sanction military action against the Native Americans angered the backcountry farmers.

Rebelli0nIn 1676 backcountry farmers, under the

leadership of a wealthy planter named Nathaniel Bacon, organized their own militia and attacked the Native Americans. Realizing the popularity of Bacon’s action, Governor Berkeley called on the House of Burgesses to address the situation. The assembly authorized Bacon to raise troops to attack the Native Americans, and it also restored the vote to all free men.

Post-RebellionBacon was not satisfied with the reforms, and in 1676

he and several hundred armed followers returned to Jamestown, charged Berkeley with corruption, and seized power.

Berkeley fled Jamestown and raised his own army. In September 1676, the two armies fought for control of Jamestown.

Bacon’s Rebellion ended when Bacon became sick and died.

Result of Rebellion1.Backcountry farmers need land to keep

stability.2.Trend of slaves over indentured servants was

on the rise.3.English government encouraged slavery

(Royal African Company)

What situation led to Bacon’s Rebellion?

(The refusal of Governor Berkeley to use military action against the Native Americans led to the conflict. Backcountry farmers wanted government support against the Native Americans, whose land they wanted. Bacon and a group of back- country settlers organized their own militia to fight the Native Americans. Later, he seized power from the governor and battled for control of Jamestown.)

Middle Passage- by 1870, 10-12 million Africans were taken from West Africa and transported to America.

Steps of Slavery1. 1619 1st Africans arrived and treated like indentured

servants2. 1638 Maryland 1st state to recognize slavery3. 1705 Virginia puts in slave code (Draws line between

slaves & free people)By the early 1700’s slavery was widespread and used

to create the plantation labor.

Why was slavery particularly entrenched in the Southern Colonies?

(There the work of enslaved Africans was essential to the plantation economy.)