Chapter 3: The Southern Colonies

Chapter 3: The Southern Colonies

Identify the source of labor and explain the major characteristics of this labor system.

On April 26, 1607, around 144 English colonists reached at the Chesapeake Bay. Later on, the colonists constructed a fort on a small peninsula that evidenced the awareness of colonist, which they required to defend themselves from Spaniards and Indians. In this manner, colonists suffered from number of starvation and disease. A powerful chief of Algonquian people who stayed in Chesapeake, Powhatan rescued the demoralized and weakened English colonists by donating them corn for barter. Even the company of Virginia promises that the colony will make rich colonists but most of the colonists went to an early grave. The relationship between natives and newcomers fall in conflict and the people of Powhatan kept in contact but preserved a healthy distance from the settlers of English. The Virginia Company possessed that the settlers purchased from Indians “The pearls of earth” (James. et al. pp-59). The colony of Virginia created number of difficulties for chiefdom of Powhatan which include the stretch of European diseases among the Indians and the enhanced burden of developing corn for themselves and English. But it was Powhatan, who recognized the intension of colonists that they basically wanted to stay there. It should be observed that there were four key facts about the servant labor system. Their masters needed more labor and additional work to be done. On the other hand, Servants did not will to work for as much as they could, but for as much as they were asked to. Moreover, servants did not follow the orders as they consider themselves as free group. This labor system greatly affected over the society of Chesapeake. The labor system did not appear till the last quarter of 17th century. During the time of 1670s, barbados's settlers brought slavery to the new English colony.

Explain the conditions that caused this system to flourish.

The labor system of Virginia was disturbed as the settlers had huge shortage of food, due to high dying ratio of productive population and their key focus was on the gaining and economic wealth. These settlers considered them as gentlemen who do not work in farms and not in their general lives. On the other hand, neither the Virginia Company asked for the professional workers for going to Virginia, as they just required normal gentlemen. If we observe ...