Unit One: Colonial RegionsResource Sheet U1-38

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Cashing in on Crops

In 1612, John Rolfe began to grow tobacco in Virginia. Tobacco became an important crop. Colonists exported tobacco for money. An export is a raw material or manufactured good sent to another place in exchange for money or other goods. The colonies sent most of their exports to England. Tobacco quickly became a cash crop.

In 1619, a Dutch ship sold twenty Africans to the colonists in Jamestown. This was the beginning of slave laborin the colonies.Enslaved Africans worked in homes and in the tobacco fields. At first, the number of enslaved persons was small. As the demand for cash crops grew, so did slave labor.

Slavery developed in all thirteen colonies. Northern colonies became more industrial. There eventually was less of a need for slave labor in the north. The Southern colonies’ need forslave labor increased. Growing rice, tobacco, and indigo required lots of manual labor. Enslaved persons were used to producethese cash crops.

The life of a slave was a cruel one. Enslaved persons often tried to run away. They wanted to be free. In 1642, Virginia passed laws to stop people from helping runaway enslaved persons. Any person could be fined 20 pounds of tobacco for each night he or she helped a runaway.

In the 1660s, the colonies of Maryland and Virginia made laws that deniedblacks their rights. There could be no marriages between races. Blacks could not own property. They could not bear arms. They could not travel without anote from their owners. Slavery became law in Maryland in 1664. All blacks who lived in the colonywereenslaved persons.

By 1670,the greatest number of blacks were in the colonies of Virginia (2000 blacks) and Maryland (1190 blacks.)Seven percent of the people inVirginia and Maryland were enslaved persons in 1680. Plantation owners relied on enslaved personsto do most of the work on their plantations.

The rights of blacks became even more limited. In 1692, Virginia passed new laws. Enslaved personscould not keep horses, cattle, or hogs. Enslaved personscharged with a major crime lost their right of trial by jury.

By the year 1700, 22percent of the people living in Virginia and Maryland were enslaved. They came from Africa, Barbados, other Caribbean colonies, and from the Dutch colony of New Netherlands. A slave code “Act Concerning Servant and Slave” in Virginia stated in 1705 that all enslaved persons were property.

The slave trade expanded. From 1705 - 1710, more than twice as many Africans arrived in colonial America than during all of the 1600s.

By the year 1750, 31 percent of the people living in Maryland were enslaved persons. Forty-four percent of the people living in Virginia were enslaved persons.This slave labor grew the valuable cash crops. By 1775, Virginia and Marylandgrew more than 100 million pounds of tobacco a year.The profits from cash crops came at the loss of human freedom.

Enslaved Population in the United States in 1790

State / Enslaved Population
Massachusetts / no data
New Hampshire / 157
Connecticut / 2,648
Rhode Island / 958
New York / 21,193
Pennsylvania / 3,707
New Jersey / 11,423
Delaware / 8,887
Maryland / 103,036
Virginia / 292,627
North Carolina / 100,783
South Carolina / 107,094
Georgia / 29,264

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

2011-12Grade 5 Social Studies