Jamestown - 1st Permanent English Colony
Summary
TLDRThe 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
- π° Jamestown, established in 1607, was the first permanent English settlement in North America, succeeding where the failed Roanoke Colony had not.
- π The Chesapeake region, where Jamestown was located, was characterized by similar climate and geography, influencing the settlement patterns, economy, and demographics of the colonies.
- π 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.
- π‘οΈ The settlers initially relied on a fortification for protection from indigenous tribes, wild animals, and potential threats from the Spanish.
- π’ 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.
- πΎ 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.
- πΏ 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.
- π¨βπΎ 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.
- π€ Initially friendly relations with the Powhatan tribe turned hostile as the Jamestown settlers' numbers grew, leading to conflicts over resources and land.
- βοΈ 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
π° 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.
π³ 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.
π₯ 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.
π€ 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.
π± 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.
π 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.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Jamestown Colony
π‘Chesapeake region
π‘Indigenous societies
π‘Joint-stock company
π‘Starving Time
π‘Tobacco
π‘Indentured servants
π‘Headright system
π‘Powhatan Uprising
π‘Backcountry
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
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