Jamestown - 1st Permanent English Colony

Summary

The video script offers an in-depth exploration of the Jamestown Colony, established in 1607 as the first permanent English settlement in Virginia. It discusses the colony's strategic location in the Chesapeake region, its initial struggles with disease, food shortages, and hostile relations with the Powhatan tribe, and the eventual success through tobacco cultivation. The narrative also covers the establishment of the Virginia Company, the role of indentured servants, and the headright system, which incentivized immigration to alleviate labor shortages.

Takeaways

• 🏰 Jamestown, established in 1607, was the first permanent English settlement in North America, succeeding where the failed Roanoke Colony had not.
• 🌍 The Chesapeake region, where Jamestown was located, was characterized by similar climate and geography, influencing the settlement patterns, economy, and demographics of the colonies.
• 🌊 Jamestown's peninsular location offered both advantages, such as natural defense and fresh water access, and disadvantages, including a swampy terrain that bred disease-carrying mosquitoes.
• 🛡️ The settlers initially relied on a fortification for protection from indigenous tribes, wild animals, and potential threats from the Spanish.
• 🚢 The Virginia Company, formed as a joint-stock company, funded the establishment of Jamestown, with investors seeking a return through the expected wealth of the New World.
• 🌾 The initial settlers, mostly aristocrats, were unprepared for the hard labor required for survival, leading to a severe lack of food and shelter, and a high mortality rate during the first years.
• 🌿 The introduction of tobacco farming by John Rolfe in 1612 revolutionized the colony's economy, with tobacco becoming a lucrative export, leading to a demand for labor.
• 👨‍🌾 The headright system was implemented to attract more settlers by offering land to those who paid for their passage or to those who agreed to work as indentured servants for a set period.
• 🤝 Initially friendly relations with the Powhatan tribe turned hostile as the Jamestown settlers' numbers grew, leading to conflicts over resources and land.
• ⚖️ The labor shortage in Jamestown led to the rise of indentured servitude, which later transitioned into the system of slavery as a long-term solution for the colony's agricultural needs.

Q & A

What was the significance of Jamestown as a colony?

Jamestown was significant as it was the first permanent English colony in North America, established in 1607. Despite initial struggles, it eventually became successful, marking the beginning of English colonization in the Americas.

Why was the location of Jamestown advantageous for the settlers?

Jamestown's location was advantageous due to the availability of fresh water, its position on a peninsula which simplified defense, and its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, facilitating easier supply transport. The presence of rivers also promised an abundance of fish and fertile soil for agriculture.

What were the disadvantages of Jamestown's location?

The disadvantages included the marshy, swampy land that bred mosquitoes, leading to diseases like malaria. The settlers were also isolated, making it difficult to receive timely support from other settlements or England.

Why did the relationship between the Jamestown settlers and the Powhatan tribe deteriorate?

The relationship deteriorated due to the increasing number of settlers, which the Powhatan perceived as a threat to their resources and land. The settlers' failure to find gold and their focus on survival led to conflicts over land and resources.

What was the 'Starving Time' in Jamestown's history?

The 'Starving Time' refers to the period from 1609 to 1610 when the settlers faced extreme food shortages, leading to death and desperation. They resorted to eating roots, rats, snakes, and even boiled leather to survive.

How did tobacco cultivation change the fate of Jamestown?

Tobacco cultivation became a turning point for Jamestown's economy. The colony's fertile soil was ideal for growing tobacco, and by 1630, it was exporting 1.5 million pounds of tobacco to Europe, which attracted more settlers and workers.

What was the headright system and how did it attract labor to Jamestown?

The headright system was a policy that granted 50 acres of land to any settler who paid for their own passage to Virginia, and an additional 40 acres for each family member. This incentivized Europeans, particularly those without land prospects, to migrate and work as indentured servants.

What was the role of indentured servants in the development of Jamestown?

Indentured servants played a crucial role in the development of Jamestown by providing the labor needed for tobacco cultivation. They signed contracts to work for a set period, usually seven years, in exchange for free passage to the Americas and a plot of land upon completion of their service.

How did the Powhatan Uprising of 1622 affect the relationship between the settlers and Native Americans?

The Powhatan Uprising of 1622 severely damaged the relationship between the settlers and Native Americans, leading to a state of constant tension and hostility. The surprise attack by the Powhatan tribe resulted in the brutal murder of many settlers, marking a significant turning point in their interactions.

What were the living conditions like for indentured servants during their service period?

The living conditions for indentured servants were often harsh, with long hours of labor, limited freedoms, and poor living conditions. They were bound to their contracts and had little recourse if their conditions were not met or if they were mistreated by their masters.

Outlines

00:00

🏰 Founding of Jamestown Colony

The script begins by introducing the Jamestown Colony in Virginia, established in 1607 as the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. It contrasts Jamestown with the failed Roanoke Colony and sets the stage for discussing the challenges Jamestown faced. The location of Jamestown within the Chesapeake region is highlighted, emphasizing the regional similarities in climate and geography that influenced settlement patterns. The script invites viewers to analyze a map for the advantages and disadvantages of Jamestown's site, noting its position on a peninsula, which offered both defensive benefits and challenges due to its marshy, mosquito-prone environment.

05:01

🌳 Environmental Factors of Jamestown

This section delves into the environmental disadvantages of Jamestown's location, particularly the health risks associated with the area's climate and landscape. The hot, humid conditions and proximity to waterways led to a marshy terrain that was conducive to malaria-carrying mosquitoes. The script also discusses the isolation of Jamestown, which hindered timely support from other settlements or England, and the initial lack of preparedness and resources among the settlers, contributing to the colony's early struggles.

10:06

👥 Social Structure and Early Struggles

Paragraph 3 discusses the social composition of the early Jamestown settlers, who were largely aristocrats unprepared for manual labor. It details how their focus on finding gold rather than establishing essential resources like food and shelter led to a dire situation. The leadership of John Smith is highlighted, showing how his attempts to enforce practical survival measures were initially resisted. The paragraph also covers the 'Starving Time' of 1609-1610, where the colony faced extreme food shortages, and the settlers resorted to extreme measures for survival.

15:07

🤝 Relations with Native Americans

This part of the script explores the complex relationship between the Jamestown settlers and the nearby Powhatan tribe. Initially, the Powhatan provided aid and taught the settlers essential survival skills. However, as the number of settlers increased and they began to settle with families, the Powhatan perceived them as a threat to their resources and land. This shift led to hostility and violence, culminating in the Powhatan Uprising of 1622, which is depicted in a painting that the script invites viewers to analyze for historical biases and representations.

20:10

🌱 Tobacco Economy and Labor Systems

The script explains how the introduction of tobacco cultivation by John Rolfe transformed Jamestown's economy. Tobacco's success led to a labor shortage, which was initially addressed through the use of indentured servants. The 'headright system' is introduced as an incentive for people to immigrate to Virginia, offering land to those who paid for their passage or brought family members. However, this system often favored plantation owners who paid for the passages and thus received the land grants, leading to a class of landless, former indentured servants moving westward to establish their own homesteads.

25:10

📜 Indentured Servitude and Its Impact

The final paragraph discussed in the script focuses on the indentured servitude system, its role in supplying labor for the tobacco plantations, and the eventual shift towards slavery. It provides a primary source account from 1750 that illustrates the experiences of indentured servants, highlighting the harsh realities and the promise of land ownership that drew many to Virginia. The script encourages a close reading of this source to understand the motivations, conditions, and aftermath of indentured servitude during the colonial period.

Keywords

💡Jamestown Colony

Jamestown Colony refers to the first permanent English settlement in the Americas, established in 1607 in Virginia. It was a significant milestone in the history of European colonization and is central to the video's theme. The script discusses the founding of Jamestown, its challenges, and its eventual success, highlighting the colony's importance in the Chesapeake region.

💡Chesapeake region

The Chesapeake region is the area surrounding the Chesapeake Bay, which includes parts of Virginia and Maryland. It is significant in the video as it is where Jamestown Colony was located. The region's climate, landforms, and soil were conducive to the settlement's establishment and are mentioned as reasons for its selection as a site for the colony.

💡Indigenous societies

Indigenous societies, or Native American tribes, are the original inhabitants of the land where Jamestown was established. The video discusses the complex relationship between these societies and the English settlers, initially cooperative but eventually turning hostile. The Powhatan tribe, in particular, is highlighted as they played a significant role in the early history of Jamestown.

💡Joint-stock company

A joint-stock company is a business model where investors pool their resources to fund a venture, in this case, the establishment of Jamestown. The video explains that King James I granted permission for the colony but did not fund it, leading to the formation of the Virginia Company. This concept is crucial to understanding the financial backing and motivations behind the colony's founding.

💡Starving Time

The 'Starving Time' refers to a period of severe famine that occurred in Jamestown between 1609 and 1610, where settlers faced extreme food shortages. The video describes the dire conditions, including the consumption of rats, roots, and even leather, illustrating the harsh realities and challenges faced by the early colonists.

💡Tobacco

Tobacco played a pivotal role in the economic success of Jamestown. The video explains how John Rolfe's introduction of tobacco seeds led to a boom in production, with Virginia becoming a major exporter of tobacco to Europe. This crop was crucial in transforming the struggling colony into a prosperous one.

💡Indentured servants

Indentured servants were individuals who agreed to work for a set period, typically seven years, in exchange for transportation to the Americas. The video discusses how the demand for labor in tobacco plantations led to an increase in indentured servants, highlighting the labor dynamics of the colony.

💡Headright system

The headright system was an incentive program that granted land to individuals who paid for their passage to Virginia or sponsored others. The video explains how this system was intended to attract more settlers and laborers to the colony, but often resulted in plantation owners receiving the land instead of the indentured servants.

💡Powhatan Uprising

The Powhatan Uprising, also known as the Indian Massacre of 1622, was a rebellion by the Powhatan Confederacy against the English colonists. The video describes this event as a turning point in relations between the Native Americans and settlers, marking a shift from initial cooperation to open conflict.

💡Backcountry

The backcountry refers to the less settled, more remote areas beyond the established plantations in Virginia. The video mentions how many indentured servants, after completing their service, moved to the backcountry to establish homesteads, reflecting the ongoing westward expansion and settlement patterns in colonial America.

Highlights

Jamestown Colony was the first permanent English colony in Virginia, established in 1607.

The Chesapeake region was chosen for its similar climate, landforms, and soil, leading to similar settlement patterns, economies, and demographics.

Jamestown's location on a peninsula was advantageous for defense but led to problems due to its marshy, wetland conditions.

The initial settlers were mostly wealthy investors who were not accustomed to hard labor, leading to difficulties in establishing the colony.

John Smith's leadership and insistence on farming saved the colony from starvation, despite initial resistance from the settlers.

The relationship between the settlers and the Powhatan tribe evolved from initial cooperation to hostility over resource competition.

The introduction of tobacco cultivation by John Rolfe transformed the economy of Jamestown, leading to a boom in tobacco exports.

The headright system was an early attempt to attract labor to the colony by offering land to new arrivals and their families.

Indentured servitude became a common practice as plantation owners paid for the passage of workers in exchange for a set period of labor.

The Powhatan Uprising of 1622 marked a significant deterioration in relations between the Native Americans and the English settlers.

The labor-intensive nature of tobacco production led to a continuous search for more workers, eventually leading to the use of indentured servants and the headright system.

The painting depicting the Powhatan Uprising showcases the biases and artistic liberties taken to portray the event and its participants.

The challenges faced by the early Jamestown settlers, including disease, food shortages, and conflicts with Native Americans, were significant barriers to the colony's success.

The shift from initial friendly relations with the Powhatan tribe to open hostility highlights the complexity of early colonial interactions.

The economic success of Jamestown, fueled by tobacco, led to a demand for more labor and the development of labor systems like indentured servitude.

The headright system's failure to provide land to indentured servants as promised contributed to social unrest and the movement of people to the backcountry.

Transcripts

today we are going to begin our

discussion of the Jamestown Colony in

Virginia this is the first permanent

English colony created in

1607 um you might be questioning

yourself wait but this isn't the first

permanent English colony there was Rowan

o and that's why the caveat is in there

that it says permanent because as you

already know Rowan o failed it

disappeared jamest toown spoiler alert

is going to be successful ful but um not

without trials and tribulations along

the way in terms of that success so

let's get into it um Jamestown is going

to be found in the Chesapeake region of

the colonies so as we study the colonies

we're studying them by region um first

starting with the Chesapeake and then

the southern colonies region and then

we're moving up to the New England

colonies and the middle colonies so

there are four regions that we're going

to be studying and the reason that they

are coupled into their regions usually

is because they have very similar

climate um very similar like land form

soil mountains things like that um and

in turn they tend to have similar

settlement P patterns similar um

economics and similar demographics and

so that's how these colonies are coupled

into regions and so this is called the

Chesapeake region because as you can see

from these Maps um the the Maryland and

Virginia colonies which are going to be

the two colonies in the Chesapeake

region were based around the Chesapeake

Bay in the Northern and sou north and

south of the Chesapeake Bay there is

Jamestown um right in the southern part

of the Chesapeake Bay and so that's how

this area is going to get its name um

here's another map locating Jamestown

Colony to give you some sort of

relationship to where Rowan Oak was as

compared to where Jamestown is it's

going to be positioned a little bit

north of the Lost Colony of Rowan o

let's take a look at this map right here

so this is a map um of Jamestown now

when Jamestown was created it would have

been the only dot on this map so this

obviously spans time beyond the creation

of Jamestown and you can see the other

English settlements colonies that are

going to uh emerge over the next couple

decades you can see different forts

things like that that are also going to

emerge I'd like you to on page seven of

your content guide I'd like you to go

ahead and take a look at that and using

this map analyze it and see if you can

identify advantages and disadvantages

for using this site as a location of the

first settlement I also want to to note

if you can you can kind of tell it from

here but Jamestown is located on a

peninsula um here's another picture it

shows a little bit more so of that

peninsula

um consider that in weighing your

advantages and disadvantages how might

that play a role um please pause me and

then please start me again when you're

ready to hear the

answers all right welcome back um

advantages so some of the things you

might have mentioned is the availability

of fresh water for drinking and for

cooking uh notice that it is on the

freshwater side of the fresh saltwater

transition zone that's obviously going

to be very important um the peninsula

means they really only have to defend

themselves by land from one side so

that's going to be an important

consideration there um other things to

mention are that the availability of the

river and the closeness to the Atlantic

Ocean is going to make it much easier

for ships to come into the Chesapeake

area to get supplies um lots of rivers

and freshwater located there such as the

James River so you're going to have a

plentiful Supply fish if we're looking

for food supplies and then as I'm sure

most of you know most of settlements

very first settlements are all

positioned around waterways fresh

waterways like Rivers because that also

equates to more um fertile soil so

better for um actually you know growing

Foods disadvantages here couple um first

off like you can't really tell from the

map but if any of you know Virginia well

you know Virginia is very hot humid

climate um and with all the waterways

close to where jamest toown is

established um they actually end up

establishing themselves on kind of a swy

swampy wet land and so it's going to be

very marshy to a degree which is going

to cause a number of problems most

predominantly if you think of a marshy

wet land with hot humid temperatures

usually that's the perfect breeding

ground for mosquitoes and what is

mosquitoes bring with them at this time

often malaria um which was a deadly

disease um so that's going to be a

disadvantage it's going to be a

disadvantage because they are kind of

you know out in the middle of nowhere um

so in terms of like getting support from

other people in a timely manner that's

simply not going to happen um you might

have thought of some other disadvantages

uh but I'm going to go ahead and move on

uh to the next page page P eight so if

you could turn to page eight um so what

you see on the screen is a painting of

what they believe the original James

Town Colony the settlement probably

looked like it's based off of the image

that you guys see on page8 which was

actually drawn by a Jamestown colonist

so I'd like you to pause me again and go

ahead and answer those first two

questions and then unpause me when

you're ready to uh hear the

answers all right welcome back so for

the first one who are they protecting

themselves with with this large

fortification surrounding their

settlement uh there are really three

answers let's see if you have these

three answers one are the um indigenous

societies the native tribes nearby who

may not have been friendly to the um

Jamestown settlers two secondly um wild

animals we've even see some off in the

background in the painting and then

lastly we could also consider this

protection from Spain

um and while Spanish Florida is quite a

ways away it's quite a Way South um as

comparison compared to Jamestown we know

that the Spanish regularly um actually

went along the coastline the Atlantic

Seaboard and could potentially pose a

threat to the Virginia colonists number

two if the settlers run into trouble

from whom could they get help that is

kind of a trick question because there

answer is kind of no one uh they were on

their own if they were to try to get

help from England it would take easily

months 3 months at a minimum for them to

receive any sort of assistance and by

that point in time um it would have been

a futile attempt all right let's talk a

little bit about the establishment of

Jamestown so you all know that James the

first commissioned Jamestown so there is

James the first of course it's named

after him and while he was willing to

give permission for it to be established

he was not willing to fund it uh England

was having a poor Economic Times and for

him to commit English money to a venture

that may not be successful as we already

saw with Rowan Oak would not have been

very popular of a decision as king and

so he basically said you have my

blessing go ahead and create a colony

but you got to figure out how to fund it

on your own and so the people that

wanted to create Jamestown decided to

establish a joint stock company um and

this is kind of like the way stocks work

today where a bunch of investors are

going to put their money together um and

in turn they receive stocks but it will

allow this company then to um start up a

venture in this particular instance

we're talking about starting up a colony

usually when we think about stocks and

companies today they're usually starting

up just that a company or a new business

um but in this case they're talking

about a

so the original name of this joint stack

company was a London company and then

after they established Jamestown and it

grew into Virginia um they became known

as the Virginia Company um the people

that are going to buy these stocks are

going to want to see a return on their

investment meaning they're going to want

to make money their goal is to seek

wealth and um they believe that it's

going to be in uh in uh the Americas

simply because the Spanish have been

coming home with a lot of of gold um now

are they going to be uh very

disappointed when they arrive at

Jamestown they think that literally

they're going to get off the ship and

the the beaches are strewn with gold so

not only is that going to happen but

there's really not even any gold under

the surface in

Virginia um what's interesting about the

settlers that came to

uh the original Jamestown Settlement is

that a lot of them were these wealthy

investors and when we think about

wealthy investors at this time people

that were wealthy enough to buy a stock

that had that sort of disposable income

they were generally Aristocrats and

generally people that are not going to

do hard labor labor jobs so things like

planting crops building shelters some of

the things that might have been

necessary for jamest town to to survive

and thrive these men arriving will not

um have any sort of experience in and in

fact when they arrived they didn't even

have any desire to do those things they

wanted first and foremost to start

mining gold when they didn't find it

when they walked off the ship they said

well we got to start Mining and they

didn't do any of those things that one

would consider important like

establishing a food Supply like

establishing shelter that um many people

would suspect they would have

done um in April of

1607 John Smith who was one of the

members of the first um Jamestown Colony

he decided to try to take control of the

colony so a couple months had passed

nothing had really done nobody really

done anything because all the settlers

were wealthy upper class Englishmen

concerned with finding gold they were

having problems with disease malaria

specifically they were already running

out of food and John Smith pleaded with

the colonist of Jamestown and said we

have to do something we have to change

our strategies we need to establish

shelter we need to plant food we need to

find a plentiful food source and um

really they they simply ignored him they

they went about and continued to focus

on mining and this proved to be detri m

al for the original Jamestown colonist

by the winter of 1607 only

38 of the original 150 or so settlers

were remained

alive um one James toown colonist said

this he said thus we lived in the space

of five months in miserable distress our

men night and day groaning in every

corner of the fort most pitiful to hear

if there were any conscience in men it

would make their hearts to bleed to hear

the pitiful murmurings and outcries of

Our Sick men for relief every night and

day for the space of six weeks some

departing out of the world many is three

or four times in a night so those are

people dying in the morning their bodies

trailed out of their cabins like dogs to

be

buried and so I'd like you to read a

little bit more about um the starving

time as it later came to be known um in

the following year so they continue to

have more issues in the years to come um

specifically in the

16609 to 1610 they engaged in the

starving time so things never really got

easy for the Jamestown colonists I'd

like you to take some time um and take a

look at page nine and I want you to read

those two accounts of the staring

starving time the first one is a

secondary source so a historian's anal

is and the second one is a primary

source this is Captain John Smith

himself later in 1624 writing about the

experience during the starving time so

go ahead and read through those passages

actively

read and answer the questions and then

um go ahead and go to and then we'll

have I'll have you pause me or start me

again at that time go ahead and pause me

now

all right welcome back um we're going to

talk about a little bit about Native

American relations at this time and so

um the Native American tribe that was

living near the original Jamestown Cony

were called the

potin and the potin were actually first

friends with the Jamestown colonists and

ultimately ended up being enemies so the

question is how do they go from friend

to foe um so as you guys know as I

already mentioned after um such dire

death in that first year John Smith took

charge and forced the colonist to farm

um in that first winter when so many

colonists were dying the potin who were

kind of looking on spying so to say on

the colonists actually took pity on them

they saw just these emaciated human

beings and as part of human nature they

came to the James Town colonist and they

offered food um they offered support

they taught them how to plant um in the

the

spring um and they had really like tried

to assist them so this is going to

happen all the way through

16008 and then in the spring of

16009 600 more colonists

arrive and the

potin viewpoint on the colonist change

why well when there was just

38 starving dying men they were really

not a threat to the large potin nation

and really the potin believe that

someday they would go back to where they

came from if if crley they didn't die

first and now we have 600 more colonists

ared that first ship that came or those

first ships that came only carried men

and so the how were not really concerned

about them settling because they knew

they couldn't really establish a

successful settlement with just men

these 600 more colonists that arrive in

16019 bring women and children with them

so not only is it an increased number of

people which is going to be a threat for

competition in terms of resources but

also the idea that they brought women

and children indicates settlement that

they are going to stay and so this is

going to be really concerning to the

palatin and they're going to begin to

feel threatened by the growing numbers

and start to retaliate against the

Jamestown colonists and so the potin

begin to like come in and kill livock um

pigs cows the livestock that the

Jamestown colonist had they harass

settlers regularly um and uh things

really kind of started to go bad in

Jamestown

um I already you already read about the

starving time which is the winter of

1609 the colonists ate Roots rates rats

rates rats snakes boiled shoe Leathers

Leathers made out of real animals um and

even after the starving time only about

60 people survived of the 600 that

arrived in the spring of 16009 so um

although they had planted things they

had not near barely the resources

available they had barely enough to keep

the 30 or so men alive that were there

um they didn't have enough resources and

they weren able to create enough

resources for the additional you know

600 that arrived and so as a result of

that um huge numbers of people as you

already read about

died I'd like you to take a look at page

10 in your content guide question three

says in the interactions between English

settlers and Native am Americans what

benefits did each side receive from the

other what negative consequences did

each side suffer at the hands of the

other so go ahead and pause me answer

that question think about what you would

do and then unpause me and come back to

me before you do question

four all right welcome back let's take a

look at question four says based on the

painting below which depicts the power

and uprising of

1622 so 1622 we're fast forwarding ahead

a little over a decade what happened to

initial positive relations between the

Indians and settlers what Clues does the

painting provide um so if we take a look

at this we see Native Americans

essentially it's called the PO and

Uprising for a reason and they're

depicted as pretty much massacring the

settlers which

isn't completely foreign from the truth

as to what happened the the settlers

were really caught in a surprise attack

by the potin and the potin um came in

and and started to brutally murder the

settlers but I want you to pay attention

to some of the biases and the Liberties

that the artists may have taken in this

painting notice how the Native Americans

are depicted so they're depicted only in

their loin cloths which gives uh an idea

of savagery but they're also depicted

very muscular and strong wrong so as to

indicate to the viewer that these Native

Americans were stronger more powerful

than the poor weak colonists that they

attacked and notice that the colonists

essentially look defenseless you see the

one guy in the the bottom right corner

so he has an axe but notice his back is

turned and we know the famous phrase

stabbing somebody in the back so it's

it's clear that he is actually using his

axe to cut wood not to fight against the

natives and yet he's being killed um it

also depicts you know natives doing

simple things like eating a dinner when

they were surprise attacks sorry not

natives um colonists doing simple things

like eating a dinner when they're

surprised attacked by the natives you

see women and children um being killed

and mutilated as well um and then more

Native Americans coming in the back and

huge numbers to um you know support this

now by this point in time Jamestown

Colony was well established there were

hundreds of people living in Jamestown

Colony and so the colonists were by and

large a bigger threat to the natives

than they were to them um and

essentially the natives were looking to

do something about this this event would

kind of seal the relationship between

the potin and other Native American

tribes in Virginia um and the English

colonists that are going to live there

and that relationship is of course going

to be a tense um unfriendly one as it's

going to as the more and more colonists

continue to expand their land and thus

take land and resources from the native

tribes who lived

there but um Jamestown still was not the

successful Colony that the original

joint stock company had hoped it would

be they still hadn't kind of found found

that Niche that thing that would make

put jamest town on the map so to say

that was until John Rolf um got to

Jamestown so John Rolf arrived in

Jamestown in

1612 and he had smuggled with him um

some seeds some tobacco seeds and it's

really unclear how he got tobacco seeds

because the Spanish had cornered the

market on the tobacco production at this

time and it was actually against the law

um and punishable by severe infractions

if somebody was to give tobacco seeds to

a non Spaniard so it's really unclear

how John Ralph got these but he brings

them to Virginia colony and Virginia

happens to be the perfect climate the

perfect soil for growing

tobacco um and so those first couple

seeds that he plants end up being

successful they're able to multip Supply

from those first crops and by 1630 there

were 1 and5 million pounds of tobacco

being exported to Europe from the

Jamestown

Colony this increase in uh production of

tobacco is going to lead to an increase

in the desire for workers so the

settlers that live there some of them uh

were women and children they simply

couldn't keep up with the sprawling

tobacco plant PL ations and so they

begin to advertise back in Europe for um

people to come and work and these people

became known as indentured servants and

so initially the idea was you want free

land you want a free ship

fair come to the Americas and you're

going to sign up for this generally

seven-year contract that says you're

going to work for a

planter um in lie of getting a free ship

fair to America and then when your seven

years are up you will be given a plot of

land and to many especially like poor

middle class Europeans who would never

have land ownership in their lives they

were very excited about this because in

Europe land ownership was passed down

from generation to generation and

usually went to the eldest son and so if

you were not the eldest son or you were

a daughter you were kind of out of luck

um so the only way you could consider

actually owning land was to come to

America and so um they started to uh

bring indentured servants to amican and

actually before we get to that I'm going

to pause the video I want you to turn to

page 12 in your content guide and I want

you to answer questions one and then um

2 three 2 three a and 3B on page 13 and

when you are finished with those then go

ahead and unpause me we're going to talk

a little bit about the headr

system all right welcome back I'm going

to have you turn in your content guide

to page

16 um so we know that there's a shortage

of workers and they're going to they

need to figure out ways to you know get

people to work um so initially they used

indentured servants and they're not

going to stop using that but they're

going to um establish something called

the headright system which is going to

convince people to come and and um

become indentured servants um so looking

at the top of page 16 let's just go

ahead and read that together it says

tobacco tobacco production excuse me let

me start that over tobacco production

was very labor intensive the plants were

growing as seedlings in a controlled

environment and then transplanted in the

fields they required almost constant

attention to ensure the pests weeds or

overgrowth did not ruin the

Harvest at Harvest Time the plants

themselves needed to be dried and

processed all of this took an incredible

amount of time and effort and therefore

required a tremendous amount of Labor

several solutions to this labor shortage

were tried was slavery ultimately

proving to be the most effective

long-term answer but before they move to

slavery they attempt to do something

called the headright

system and the headright system

basically means that each new arrival

that would pay for their own trip to

America would receive 50 acres of land

um and another 40 acres for each family

member who migrated so if you brought

your family of three you would receive

50 acres for yourself and then another

40 each for your two other family

members so it was a way to obtain a huge

amount of land um but as most of the

people that would be interested in being

indentured servants did not have the

funds to make the trip over what ended

up happening was a lot of the Planters

now plantation owners um paid for their

trip over and then they unfortunately

did not received the head right that

went to whoever paid for the passage

which would have been the plantation

owner who would them would have gotten

the 50 acres of land um the idea was

that the plantation owner should give

indentured servants land at the end of

their seven years of Labor they had

contracts that said this often times

they did not follow through and so when

indentured servants were o were done

with their um indenture they oftentimes

found themselves

homeless and ended up moving into the

back country of Virginia um further West

where there weren't plantations where

people weren't living and they became

essentially squatters on that land and

they began to create a homestead and

live on that land um create a life for

themselves there let's take a look back

at page

16 um and go ahead and answer the two

questions on under the headright system

one and two and go ahead and answer the

questions under B and then unpause me

all right welcome back um lastly on

pages

16 17 and

18 um you see a reading by gotle

middleberg so this is a primary source

we read a lot of primary source things

written by people who lived it in the

time period um and he's going to write

about the passage of indentured servants

this is quite a bit later in 1750 but

it's not going to change the experience

from those indentured servants that came

over in the 1600s so please go ahead and

read that um underlining and

highlighting as you go you might want to

peruse the questions on page 18 first so

you know what you should be looking for

and what you want to be um annotating

for and then answer those four questions

at the end