Labor in Virginia

Under the headright system, colonists who paid their own way to Virginia received 50 acres of land.

Each HEAD of the family had the RIGHT to 50 acres of land.

Indentured Servants – pg. 68

Experiences of Indentured Servants

“And I have nothing to comfort me, nor is there nothing to be gotten here but sickness and death.”

“Good father, do not forget me, but have mercy and pity my miserable case.”

-Richard Frethorne

Indentured Servant, Virginia

1623

Bacon’s Rebellion – pg. 68

Who was Nathaniel Bacon?

• Why rebel?

• Controlled much of the colony

• Followers included both black and white indentured servants

• Died of fever, leading to the end of the Rebellion

What happened to labor in Virginia after the rebellion?

Slavery in America

• 1619

– First Africans arrive in Virginia

• 1776

– Declaration of Independence

• 1865

– 13th Amendment ends slavery

1600s

• First labor force?– Indentured servants

• What went wrong?• Bacon’s Rebellion; servants were not surviving their contracts

• What is the new labor force?• Slaves from Africa

Why African slaves?

1740s

1730s

Middle Passage – pgs. 99-100

Not just the United States…