UTA 14February2011 Life in the Chesapeake Colonies
Life in the Chesapeake Colonies was much different than it is now. With this blog, we hope to guide you through what a typical day in the colonists' life was like, from what their homes were like, to daily hygiene, and broader subjects like religion, trade, slaves, and education. Hopefully this will give you a better sense of how they lived and died.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Chesapeake Bay Homes in Colonial Times by Hans D.
Religion in the Chesapeake Colonies by Andrea R
Education in the Chesapeake Colonies by Ashleigh H.
The Chesapeake colonies were a tobacco-producing and money driven society. A crop that required many laborers and much time and effort left education of their young at the wayside. There were no urban centers most appropriate for schools, so families had to do their best to teach their children basic reading, writing, and mathematics. Wealthy planters might employ tutors and have plantation schools for their children and neighbors (Land, 1983). Some financially prosperous planters chose to send their children to preparatory schools and colleges in Europe.
The people in London province raised funds to erect the second higher learning institution in British North America, the College of William and Mary, which was founded in 1693. It was built just 5 miles from what would become Williamsburg, Virginia. (“Hornbook Virginia,” 1965). It still stands today as a prestigious university which educated many well-known people in American history. Public elementary education was addressed by Thomas Jefferson in the Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge in the 1770s. This would give 3 years of basic elementary education in reading, writing, and mathematics for all children. Virginia lagged behind other colonies in terms of public education (Rubin, 1977).
(Image:College of William and Mary, 1723)
References
A Brief History of Virginia. (1965). In J. Macgruder et al. (Eds.), A Hornbook of Virginia History (p. 68). Richmond, Virginia: Virginia State Library Publications
Land, A. C., (1983). Provential Maryland. In R. Walsh & W. Fox. (Eds.), Maryland, a History (p. 35). Baltimore, Maryland: Press of Schneidereith & Sons.
Rubin, L.D., (1977). The Revolutionary Era. In J. Smith et al. (Eds.), Virginia (p. 86). New York, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Trade in the Chesapeake Colonies by Karen C.
Trade in the Chesapeake Colonies
Despite John Smith’s statement, “As for tobacco, we never then dreamt of it”, Pocahontas’s husband to be, John Rolfe began planting West Indian tobacco seeds in 1612 (Roark et al., 2009, p. 77). The plant grew wild and Native Americans had cultivated small quantities for years. In fact, Columbus observed the natives “drinking smoke” during his first voyage (Roark et al., 2009, p. 77). Little did he know the impact this crop would have on the coming colonies, Europe, and the entire world for centuries.
A market for tobacco was readily available across the ocean. In 1616 the colonies exported 2500 lbs of leaf. This number grew to 50,000 lbs in just two years and became the “economic salvation of colony”(Breuer, 2011). The demand continued and “by the end of the seventeenth century, England was importing more than 20,000,000 pounds of colonial tobacco per year” (“Economic aspects of tobacco, n.d, para. 8). Consequently, both Maryland and Virginia “shared a devotion to tobacco” (Roark et al., 2009, p.87).
Tobacco production was indeed successful and profitable, but problems would soon be identified. The crop “exhausts” the land and necessitated new fields (Breuer, 2011). Land was readily available, but labor soon became a problem. Tobacco cultivation contributed to increased immigration thanks to the headright policy, indentured servitude and slavery, and westward land expansion and tensions with natives. Problems continued later in the seventeenth century as supply outweighed demand and mortality rates decreased among planters and servants. Centuries later, tobacco continues to be subject of controversy and debate.
Breuer, K. (2011). The Chesapeake colonies: Virginia and Maryland [PowerPoint presentation]. Retrieved from https://elearn.uta.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_100966_1%26url%3D
Roark, J., Johnson, M., Cohen, P., Stage, S., Lawson, A., Hartmann, S.(2009). The American Promise (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Tobacco.org. (n.d.). Economic aspects of tobacco during the colonial period 1612-1776. Retrieved from http://www.tobacco.org/History/colonialtobacco.html
Slavery by Greta C.
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