The establishment of the Jamestown Colony would not have been possible without the use of indentured servants and slaves. The colony required a steady flow of profit and income to fuel its growing and turn it into the colony the people needed to survive. The planting of tobacco was very important as a source of income, but it required hard labor (nps.gov). In order to achieve such labor, without the spending of much money, indentured servants and slaves were the solution.
Jamestown was founded on the principles of finding gold and making profits (us history.org). The colonists quickly found out that Tobacco was an extremely effective way to accomplish the latter. The colony was filled with aristocrats and gentlemen, yet it lacked actually …show more content…
Natives knew the land very well and would often run away from their plantations (Gallay). Those that could not manage to escape were prone to diseases such as smallpox, which tore through their population and killed an estimated 90% of Native Americans (pbs.org). Since these natives served very poorly as slaves, the colonists turned to African indentured servants. They were brought on ships from Africa and were originally bought with an indenture contract (Nash). What started off as a four to five-year sentence, turned into a life one. The farmers began to keep them for longer, since they did not have a government to protect them from that, like the English servants did (Nash). African slaves were also exposed to deadly diseases in their home country; therefore they weren’t as prone to diseases as the natives were (Eltis). This allowed the farmers to produce larger amounts of tobacco, earning them profit, for a much cheaper price. Truly a great deal for them.
The racial prejudice and inequality between races stemmed from years of slavery that can be attributed to the very beginning of our nation. The belief that they were lesser was created through the plantation systems installed in early America that the colonies depended on. The Jamestown colony led to the expansion of slavery throughout the Americas that
Jamestown was founded on the principles of finding gold and making profits (us history.org). The colonists quickly found out that Tobacco was an extremely effective way to accomplish the latter. The colony was filled with aristocrats and gentlemen, yet it lacked actually …show more content…
Natives knew the land very well and would often run away from their plantations (Gallay). Those that could not manage to escape were prone to diseases such as smallpox, which tore through their population and killed an estimated 90% of Native Americans (pbs.org). Since these natives served very poorly as slaves, the colonists turned to African indentured servants. They were brought on ships from Africa and were originally bought with an indenture contract (Nash). What started off as a four to five-year sentence, turned into a life one. The farmers began to keep them for longer, since they did not have a government to protect them from that, like the English servants did (Nash). African slaves were also exposed to deadly diseases in their home country; therefore they weren’t as prone to diseases as the natives were (Eltis). This allowed the farmers to produce larger amounts of tobacco, earning them profit, for a much cheaper price. Truly a great deal for them.
The racial prejudice and inequality between races stemmed from years of slavery that can be attributed to the very beginning of our nation. The belief that they were lesser was created through the plantation systems installed in early America that the colonies depended on. The Jamestown colony led to the expansion of slavery throughout the Americas that