The colonies of the Chesapeake region­­Virginia, Maryland, and North
Carolina­­developed agricultural economies which relied on slave
labor.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE [ edit ]
Discuss how planters in the Chesapeake region increasingly invested in the Atlantic slave trade to
support their rural tobacco­based economy.
KEY POINTS [ edit ]
The Chesapeake colonies developed a similar agricultural systems, initially based on tobacco, and
later diversified to include cotton and indigo.
Tobacco required intensive labor for cultivation, and the declining availability of
white indentured servants made Chesapeake planters turn towards slave labor.
The introduction of large­scale cheap labor, via slavery, allowed an increase in
tobacco exports which generated significant wealth for whites in the region.
The presence of slaves created an economic gap between wealthy and poor Chesapeake farmers,
with the wealthy elitesdominating the social and political life.
TERM [ edit ]
Chesapeake region
The colonial regions comprised of Virginia and Maryland.
Give us feedback on this content: FULL TEXT [ edit ]
The Chesapeake region was composed of several colonies: Virginia, with its first
successful settlement Jamestownestablished in 1607, Maryland, and North Carolina. All
three colonies developed a similar agricultural system that revolved around tobacco, which
was later diversified with the introduction of cotton and indigo.
During the later part of the seventeenth century, the development of the Chesapeake region
revolved around tobacco cultivation, which required intensive labor. At first, Chesapeake
farmers hired indentured servants, men and women from England that sold their labor for a
period of five to seven years in exchange for passage to the American colonies, to harvest
tobacco crops. However, by the 1680s, fluctuating tobacco prices and the growing scarcity of
land in the region made the Chesapeake less appealing to men and women willing to
indenture themselves. The scarcity of indentured servants meant that the price of their labor
contracts increased, and Chesapeake farmers began to look for alternative sources of bonded
labor.
As a result, many Chesapeake farmers turned towards imported Africans to alleviate this
labor shortage. Although African chattel slavery was a more expensive investment that white
indentured servitude, it guaranteed a lifetime service of labor, which precipitated the
American slave institution, as it existed for three centuries. As African slaves were generally
more expensive to purchase than indentured servants, the introduction of African slavery to
the Chesapeake and, later, South Carolina, increased the social and economic divisions
between wealthy and poor farmers. The wealthy planters invested heavily in African slaves
and agricultural technology and expanded their lands, while poor farmers struggled to
maintain their smaller agricultural enterprises.
As the demand for Chesapeake cash crops continued to grow, planters began to increasingly
invest in the Atlantic slave trade: until Charleston was a leading importer of enslaved
Africans in the region and a key port of call in the triangular trade.
Rural Economy and Society: Slavery as a Social Identifier
The local economy in the Chesapeake was overwhelminglyagrarian and rural and rooted in
the Headright, guaranteeing numerous acres of land to any immigrant who settled in the
region. The Headright was designed to promote immigrant settlement and the cultivation of
key staple crops such as indigo, rice, and tobacco, which were in high demand in the Atlantic
markets and thus increased the prosperity of the Chesapeake region. As the Headright
attracted more and more settlers to the Chesapeake, an increasing divide between coastal
planters and farmers on the frontier began to emerge­­with those in the westernmost areas
usually poorer and more vulnerable to Indian attacks than planters in the east.
Furthermore, with the importation of African slaves, most social and economic divisions
between wealthy and poor farmers in the Chesapeake increased. African slaves were
expensive, and, as the more wealthy planters invested heavily in African slaves and
agricultural technology, and could therefore expand their lands, while poor farmers struggled
to maintain their smaller agricultural enterprises. These wealthy planters, descended from
English families came to dominate the top of the social and political hierarchy in the
Chesapeake­­placing pedigree and wealth as significant social identifiers. However, small
farmers composed the largest social class in the Chesapeake. These agriculturalists owned
small amounts of property and a limited (if any) enslaved labor force. The class division
between wealthy planters and small farmers continued well into the nineteenth century, until
the Civil War united these factions together against the Northern states.