Virginia was England’s first region of permanent settlement in North America. In 1607, Jamestown was established on the Chesapeake coast but saw great setbacks for most of its early history due to illness, starvation and Indian attacks. A decade later, Lord Baltimore established the colony of Maryland, named for Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of King Charles I of England, and had a better time of it than Virginia had. It was established to be a safe haven for England’s deposed Roman Catholic minority. However, both Catholics and Protestants settled the region in relative peace until 1654, when the protestant majority repealed the Act of Religious Toleration.
The Church of England was the established faith in Virginia, meaning that all citizens therein paid for the support and establishment of the church even if they were not members themselves.
While the New England colonies were more urbanized and surrounded by small farms, the Chesapeake colonies were characterized by their large plantations, allowing for little urban development. In 1612, John Rolfe introduced a superior tobacco from Trinidad. This new crop flourished in the Tidewater’s soil and climate. As the demand for Virginian and Maryland tobacco grew, so did the demand for labor. Indentured servitude was adopted. This increased Virginia’s as well as Maryland’s populations, but was only a temporary fix. Maryland turned to England’s criminal class for bound labor, but that was also temporary.
As for the labor problem, slavery was the solution. By the second quarter of the 18th century, black slave labor was predominant, although white workers held skilled jobs on tobacco plantations until accomplished slaves took over those positions as well. By the 1770s, blacks constituted 40 percent of the region’s non-Indian population. Soon after the importation of African slaves, a caste system based on race became a hallmark of the Chesapeake society.
Virginian government took shape. Atop the ladder of leadership sat the Royal Governor, appointed by the Crown. He would appoint a Justice of the Peace to set tax rates and to oversee the building and maintenance of public works such as bridges and roads. Apart from the governor was the General Assembly consisting of a Governor’s Council (upper house of legislature) and a House of Burgesses (elected). This plantocracy – leadership by planters and lawyers – soon dominated both houses of the legislature, the local governments, the militias and the church vestries whereby a few wealthy families set the tone for a society that emulated the English landed gentry’s style and influence. But Virginia and Maryland depended on one crop based on land-holdings and black bondsmen, leading to a crippling economic depression between 1660 and 1700 due to fluctuations in the price of tobacco. This caused Virginia and Maryland greater inter-colonial stress and competition.
In 1624, as Virginia came under the direct rule of the English crown, the Burgesses passed an act prohibiting the governor from laying taxes on the colonists, their lands or commodities without the authority of the general assembly. This assured that Virginian taxes would remain in Virginia.
Indian affairs in Virginia were predominately an issue of the local governments, based in the counties. In 1676, perhaps as a result of the ongoing economic depression, 300 landless, restless and armed Virginians led by Nathaniel Bacon roamed the Virginia frontier, slaughtering unsuspecting Indian tribes entirely. But governor Berkeley recalled Bacon. His supporters revolted against the colonial government and burned Jamestown, but Bacon died suddenly and his movement to rid Virginia of Indians fell apart.
No comments:
Post a Comment