Jamestown Research Paper

Max Sochacki September 18, 2015 When the English settlers founded Jamestown in 1607, slaves were not being used anywhere in America. The Jamestown settlement was very important for the English because it started a continuous English presence in America. The original goal of the settlers was to spread christianity to the native communities(Johnson 23). After a while, the English discovered that tobacco could be easily produced in the Americas and they quickly began producing it in mass. Due to Jamestown’s mass production of tobacco, slaves were needed to work on plantations which ultimately led to chattel slavery spreading throughout the country(Johnson 27). The progression of slavery in America had three sections: The discovery of tobacco, the need for slaves to grow tobacco and other colonies adapting to the newly found slave labor, and without Jamestown
So when the settlers found something as easy to produce and export as tobacco, they liked the idea of tobacco plantations. The biggest and most expensive problem, was labor. If the cost of labor decreases, profits go up. So anyone that owned any plantation land was looking for the cheapest workers possible. At first, indentured servants were effective because they would work for five years free of charge as long as they were promised their freedom at the end of their time(Johnson 27). But eventually, indentured servants no longer were the best option and plantation owners looked to slaves. The first appearance of African slaves in America was in 1619 when a Dutch ship brought twenty african slaves to Jamestown(History). The slaves proved to be the best and cheapest form of labor and the plantation owners continued to buy slaves. The use of slaves brought huge success to Jamestown and this success was noticed by all of the other colonies. Soon, all colonies in America were adopting the idea of using slaves as