and Virginia Colony: Motives, Struggles, and the Rise of Slavery

English colonization of North America occurred later than Spanish, driven by several factors after the defeat of the Spanish Armada. ext{ Armada defeat under Elizabeth I} boosted England’s status and encouraged colonial aims.
Mercantilist logic: colonies provide raw materials and markets for exports; reduce reliance on other nations through colonization. ext{Mercantilism}
Domestic pressures: overpopulation in cities, enclosure of land, rural poverty, and a labor supply shift pushing people toward colonies. ext{Enclosure movement; rural–urban migration}
Progenitor/primogeniture pressures: younger sons and landless petty gentry sought land and wealth in colonies. ext{Primogeniture}

Earlier English forays to settle North America existed but were not sustained; two Rhode Island expeditions failed. ext{Rhode Island expeditions (failures)}
1606: Virginia Company receives a charter; goal to establish settlements in Virginia. ext{Charter}
1607: Jamestown established as the first permanent English settlement in the New World. ext{Jamestown founded}
Figures like Sir Walter Raleigh promoted colonization; some expeditions even sought El Dorado. ext{Raleigh and expeditions}

Early settlers were unaccustomed to farming and sustained life in the Chesapeake; disease, famine, and conflict led to high mortality. ext{Mortality in first nine months: 38/120}
Food shortages and reliance on Native groups created a volatile relationship; natives sometimes supplied aid but later withdrew.
Powhatan Confederacy: initial diplomacy and attempts to control English by leveraging dependence; English misread natives as weak or savages. ext{Powhatan strategy; independence of natives}
Pocahontas episode and the ritual adoption narrative: Smith’s account portrays Native practices and Powhatan’s authority; later marriage alliances (Powhatan to John Rolfe) helped temporarily ease tensions. ext{Pocahontas and Rolfe marriage}
Smith described Native peoples as savage and uncivilized by English standards, a portrayal used to justify domination; this reflects a biased notion of civilization. ext{Civilization/monopolization narrative}
Powhatan’s tactics included offering food to influence English behavior; English perceived this as weakness and interpreted native strategy as manipulation. ext{Native strategy to control settlers}
After rapid settlement, relations deteriorated; notable Powhatan War (1609–1610) and ongoing frontier tensions. ext{Powhatan War}
Smith’s captivity and Pocahontas episode described as a ritual adopted exchange; later viewed as a demonstration of power and diplomacy on both sides. ext{Smith’s captivity narrative}

Labor shortage and starvation led to uneasy self-sufficiency; many settlers were not prepared to work hard. ext{High mortality; reliance on others}
Indentured servitude becomes central: seven-year terms, 50-acre headright per servant. ext{Headright system: 50 acres/servant}
Tobacco as a cash crop discovered by John Rolfe; grows well in Virginia and drives demand for labor.
1619: Establishment of the House of Burgesses, a representative assembly; 1624: Virginia becomes a royal colony with English legal and church structures. ext{House of Burgesses; royal colony}
1622: Native uprising kills 347 English; demonstrates continuing frontier conflict and vulnerability of settlers. ext{1622 massacre}
1624–1650s: Population grows; tobacco prices stagnate; frontier expansion pressures rise; land speculation by planter-merchant elites increases. ext{Frontier expansion and land hunger}

1676: Bacon’s Rebellion reflects elite conflicts, frontier grievances, and discontent with colonial leadership (Berkeley). ext{1676 Bacon’s Rebellion}
Causes: expansion pressures, defense of frontier against Native groups, and policies seen as favoring planters and elites. Rebels accuse Berkeley of deriding commoners and favoring natives; Berkeley defends restraint and boundary policy. ext{Frontier conflict; policy disputes}
Outcome: Bacon’s forces attack Native villages; rebellion suppressed, Bacon dies; government responds with punitive actions and reforms. ext{Suppression and policy shifts}
Aftermath: elites seek to quell unrest by reducing taxes and increasing land availability; shift toward controlling frontier and addressing labor shortages. ext{Tax relief; land reform}
Key consequence: shift toward greater use of enslaved labor as indentured servants’ terms end; fear of social instability among landless whites; move from a servant-based system to a slave-based system. ext{Labor shift to slavery}

Before Bacon’s Rebellion, Virginia was not a slave society; labor relied on indentured servitude. ext{Pre-rebellion labor system}
Post-rebellion policy change: growing importation of enslaved Africans; 1619 entry of Africans as servants gradually transitions to lifelong slavery.
1705: Virginia House of Burgesses legislates chattel slavery, formalizing the slave-based labor system. ext{1705 slavery codified}
The shift toward slavery has long-term prominence in the Southern colonies and broader American colonies, changing labor, social, and political dynamics. ext{Slavery becomes dominant labor system}

England’s colonial drive was shaped by mercantilism, overpopulation, and political consolidation after defeating Spain. ext{Mercantilism; population pressures}
Jamestown faced extreme environmental and social challenges, including disease, famine, and conflict with Native peoples. ext{Famine and disease; Powhatan relations}
Labor strategies evolved from indentured servitude to slavery as a response to frontier pressures and social conflicts. ext{Indentured servitude → slavery}
Governance in Virginia moved from company control to a royal colony with representative institutions, but internal conflicts like Bacon’s Rebellion exposed tensions between landowners and frontier settlers. ext{From company to royal colony; internal conflicts}