University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XXXIV

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS

We have now arrived at the end of the seventeenth century,
and it will be appropriate to pause here in the course of our
narrative to describe the economic, the institutional, and the
social conditions which characterized the life of the Colony
during that long period. The conditions that prevailed from
the close of this period down to the middle of the eighteenth
century were in spirit at least the same, varied only by the
changes that followed gradually from the growth of population,
both white and black, free and slave, and from the expansion
of the area which had been brought under settlement and
cultivation. The Colony of Virginia had, by the time of Spotwood's
appointment to the lieutenant-governorship, assumed
all the solid aspects of a long established country. The modern
period of its history begins with this appointment. It is
our intention now to limit our view to the general phases that
we have just named of that earlier era, which, though so much
like the one that succeeded, was nevertheless distinct enough
to justify a separate treatment.

Throughout the seventeenth century, the entire system of
the Virginian life rested, not upon a civil division,—the township
as in New England, but on an economic division,—the
plantation. The community was simply a series of plantations,
with the production of tobacco and maize as practically
the only agricultural employments. The frontier was in the
course of constant enlargement by the acquisition of patents
to specified areas hitherto unoccupied. There were two conditions
on which the public lands were conveyed to individuals;
first, the performance of such public services as were

thought to be worthy of some reward. This was most common
in the time of the Company. Second, the importation of some
person, who might be the patentee himself, into the Colony.
This was known as the "headright," which gave the practical
assurance that the appropriation of the soil would not outstrip
the growth in population. No limit was set to the number of
acres that might be acquired under the operation of this right.
Two prerequisites had to be observed by the patentee to avoid
a forfeiture: first, the plantation had to be seated; second, a
quitrent had to be paid to the King.

There were two classes of laborers employed by the planters
to bring their new lands under cultivation: white servants,
bound by indentures for a term of years, and African slaves.
The first class, by its superior numbers and intelligence, was
the most important of the two previous to 1700. The ranks of
the white servants were swelled, on the one hand, by the harsh
laws then prevailing in England relative to all classes of agricultured
laborers, which naturally raised in them a disposition
to emigrate; and on the other, by the demand for additional
hands in the tobacco fields of Virginia. The only thing
in the Colony that was said to be dear was labor, and this fact
continued to be observable throughout the century, owing to
the constant opening up of new landed estates.

Some of these servants were transported criminals, but it
is doubtful whether a single convict was imported during this
century whose case when tried in the English courts had not
been marked by circumstances in mitigation of its heinousness.
A large number of the so-called convicts were simply
patriotic men who had taken part in various rebellious enterprises
in England or Ireland. An important proportion of
the servants were youths or adults who had been "spirited
away" to the Colony from the English towns by felonious
means. But the great bulk had been sent over by the agents
of English merchants, like so many bales of goods, for
exchange for the principal commodity of the country, namely,
tobacco. Their labor, however, could only be disposed of for

a definite period, after which the man or woman became as
free as the wealthiest planter in the community.

The limitation of the period of service by indenture diminished
the value of the white servant, since his place had to be
constantly supplied. It was this fact principally which led
to the importation of negro bondsmen, which began, as we
have seen, as early as 1619. As the slave's term was for life,
there was no need of solicitude as to how his shoes were to be
filled. When he died, he generally left behind him a family of
children, who belonged to his master. In physical strength,
he was the equal of the white laborer of the same age; and in
power of endurance, he was the superior. He was more easily
controlled also; nor was he subject to seasoning,—a cause of
much loss of time in connection with the raw white laborers;
and as his term never ended, he could not demand the
grain and clothing which, by the custom of the country, were
allowed the white servants on the expiration of their
indentures.

Having procured all the laborers whom he required,
whether white or black, what were the crops which the patentee
strove to cultivate? During the first years following the
foundation of Jamestown, there were spasmodic efforts to produce
a considerable variety of commodities,—cotton was
experimented with, hemp and flax, mulberry trees for silk, and
vines for wines. Wheat also was sown in small quantities
down to the end of the century. But the really profitable crops
were soon narrowed down to maize and tobacco. Tobacco was
the principal one. It was to the Colony what the potato has
been to Ireland, the coffee berry to Brazil, the grape to France,
and corn to Egypt; but it was something more, for it was in
universal use as the currency in which all debts, from the public
taxes to the grave-digger's bill, were paid.

Virginia, having a direct trade with the mother country in
a commodity always in demand there,—a demand that assured
the colonists an abundance of manufactured supplies—was
deprived of one of the strongest motives in which local manufactures

have their origin. But while Virginia was not in the
modern sense a seat of manufactures, it would be inaccurate
to say, as we have previously shown, that domestic manufactures
in the ruder forms were unknown. There were few
homes in the Colony, indeed, which did not contain a spinning
wheel or a weaver's frame; there were no important plantations
which did not number among its white servants or its
slaves skillful carpenters, blacksmiths, saddlers, masons, and
bricklayers.

When we come to examine the social framework of the
community, we find it much more complex than the economic.
This was due to the existence there of several distinct social
classes. There were first the African slaves, who stood on the
lowest footing; next, the indentured white servants; next, the
yeomen; and finally, and most important of all, the large landowners.
It was from the class of white servants that the ranks
of the small landowners were recruited chiefly. Many of the
men who began in this humble way accumulated, after the
close of their terms, good estates, exercised wide influence, and
even filled profitable offices. There is, indeed, reason to think
that some of the agricultural servants were of highly respectable
social beginnings, and that some had simply bound themselves
out in order to learn the art of tobacco culture.

What was the origin of the higher planting class? By the
end of the century, a large number of the conspicuous members
of the landed gentry had been born in the country. But
from 1618 down to 1700, not a year went by that this class did
not receive accessions from England of men of equal social
standing, and almost equal means, if not actual, prospective.
These men had been prompted to emigrate by that restless
and enterprising spirit of the English people which has made
them the greatest colonizers of modern times, and also by the
narrow chances of fortune in that age in their native land even
for men of influential family connections. There were particular
reasons why Virginia should appeal to the English
gentry of that day,—it was firmly loyal to the monarchy; its

church establishment was modeled precisely upon that of the
mother country; the entire power of Virginian society, even
in the period of manhood suffrage, was possessed and directed
by the landed proprietors. Hardly less seductive was the
appeal which the Colony made to the sons of the merchants
who were engaged in the tobacco trade.

All the immemorial social distinctions of England took root
in Virginia at once, as if the population of some English county
had been moved bodily oversea. There was no desire to leave
the old customs and privileges behind. Proofs of social divisions,
though not fixed by law, were as conspicuous to the
Englishman after his arrival in the Colony as if he had passed,
not across the ocean, but from one English shire into another.

The Virginians clung with tenacity to the habits and
customs, the moral ideas and standards, which prevailed in
the mother country. Members of all classes spoke of England
as "home." Even persons born in Virginia, who had never
seen and never expected to see their ancestral land, always
designated it by that loving word. Devotion to that land was
disclosed in their uninterrupted communication with their
English kinsmen by letter or verbal messages through the seacaptains;
in constant exchanges of gifts testifying to mutual
interest, affection, and esteem; in numerous bequests to English
charities; in the education of some of their children in
English schools; and in the naming of their plantation mansions
after the ancestral seats overseas.

As early as 1675, the general community had been established
long enough for its principal residences, in their outer
and inner aspect alike, to have acquired some of the dignity
distinguishing the ancient English manor-houses, and in their
intimate domestic annals much of that charm which was thrown
around the society of England in that age by ease of fortune,
refined manners, wide culture, and the amenities springing
from the closest bonds of friendship and kinship.

The homes of the wealthy planters contained, in the way
of halls, dining-rooms and chambers, ample space for the most

Upper Brandon

Lower Brandon

generous entertainment of guests as well as for the comfortable
accommodation of the regular inmates. The different apartments
were furnished and ornamented after the most substantial
and attractive patterns afforded by England. There was
every variety of handsome bed, couch, chair, and table. The
floors were covered with carpets, the windows shaded by linen
curtains, the chimneys hung with printed cottons, the bedframes
adorned with gaily colored valences, the walls, in some
cases, hung with tapestry, and in all, lined above the floor with
paneling. In some, however, numerous portraits, in others,
collections of books, were to be seen. Open cupboards offered
a shining array of both pewter and silver. In every drawing-room,
there were to be found musical instruments, such as the
virginal, the hand-lyre, fiddle, violin, flute, recorder, and hautboy.
The wardrobes of men and women alike contained
clothes of the latest English fashions.

The tables were loaded with a most varied abundance of
food. The herds of cattle supplied an inexhaustible quantity
of milk, butter, cheese, veal, and beef, while the hams were pronounced
by travelers to be equal in flavor to those of Westphalia.
Deer, sheep, poultry, partridges, wild turkeys, wild
pigeons, and wild geese, supplemented the heavier meats in
every larder. Perch, bass, shad, pike, and sheepshead were to
be caught almost at the very door, while oysters and other
shell fish could be raked up by the bushel from the bottom of
the nearest inlet. Peaches, plums, and apples were produced
in every orchard, and figs and grapes in every garden. Sloes,
scuppernongs, pawpaws and wild strawberries were to be
found in the woods and deserted fields. Pumpkins, peas, potatoes,
artichokes, onions, cymblins, watermelons,—all were cultivated
in profusion. Every table was supplied with homebrewed
beer and cider. The finest foreign wines,—claret,
Fayal, Madeira, and Rhenish,—could be purchased in every
tavern.

In 1675, negroes had become sufficiently numerous to furnish
all the principal households with trained servants for life.

The spirit of hospitality was further encouraged by the
facilities for getting about from residence to residence
afforded by sail or row boats. The traveller was received
everywhere with distinction. He had but to inquire of anyone
whom he met in the public road the shortest way to the nearest
gentleman's seat.[1]

What were the popular diversions? Very free drinking in
private and public was certainly one of those which were most
favored. Whenever a little company of citizens gathered
together, whether as appraisers to value an estate, or as commissioners
to pass upon a new bridge, or as county justices to
hear causes, a liberal supply of spirits was kept near at hand
to quench their thirst. As we have seen, there were numerous
musical instruments to be observed in the drawing-rooms.
The skill of many of the servants and slaves in performing on
the fiddle was often called into use at the entertainments in
the private houses. There is some evidence of play-acting
occurring under the same roof, which was natural enough after
the Restoration, when the theatre had become in England a
popular passion. The game of ninepins was played at all the
taverns and in many of the private residences. Equally popular
was the game of cards known as put. These games, as
well as dice-throwing, led to much gambling. The betting was
most active, however, at the horse-races, which formed the
most popular of all open air amusements.

It was the habit of the Virginians of every class from their
early youth to use the gun. Whether directed against wild
game or the Indians, the aim of the shooters was amongst the
surest in those times. There was an extraordinary variety
and abundance of birds for the exhibition of quick sight and
firm nerves. Though foxes were hunted, there is no surviving
record of packs of trained hounds having been used in their
pursuit. Hares were caught in large numbers by running
them down or smoking them out of hollow trees; raccoons and

opossums were tracked at night in the forests; and bears and
panthers were shot in the older parts of the Colony as late as
1683. Wolf-driving was, in some of the counties, an annual
recreation, while in all, capturing wild horses furnished a
profitable pastime. Another popular sport was fishing, chiefly
with the rod, but seines and cast and stationary nets, as well
as gill lines, were in common use.

Carter's Grove

Much diversion was derived by the people from such public
or semi-public occasions as the funeral, the wedding, the services
at church, and the assemblages on court and muster days.
Extraordinary provision was made at the funerals for the
people in attendance. At one occurring in 1667, it required
twenty-two gallons of cider, twenty-four of beer, and five of
brandy to assuage the mourners' thirst. A whole ox and a
half dozen sheep were not infrequently roasted to satisfy their
hunger. The wedding was marked by a gayety that was both
prolonged and extravagant. Most of the guests had to come
from distant plantations, and were in no humor to shorten

the festivities. From the remotest corners of the country, the
people gathered at the musters, some tramping thither on foot,
some perhaps traveling in carts and rude carriages, but the
greater number riding on horseback, with their wives and
daughters perched up behind them on pillions.

A free enjoyment of horse-play was characteristic of the
day on which the monthly court convened. It was always
enlivened by drunken bouts, which were not entirely confined
to the lowest class of the population present. This fact was
so well known that discontented indentured servants very often
took advantage of the relaxed vigilance of that hour to make
their preparations for flight. The holding of services in the
parish church gave rise to an hour that was as remarkable for
its social as for its religious aspects. In this edifice all the
free people of the parish were required by law to assemble
every Sunday morning. Before and after the services, they
had a full opportunity to mingle in the closest social intercourse.
For the time being, the edifice and its surroundings
were the center of overflowing life.