Chapter VI: Part TWO: The Middle Class (1)

Like the aristocracy the middle class in Virginia developed within the colony. It originated from free families of immigrants of humble means and origin, and from servants that had served their term of indenture, and its character was the result of climatic, economic, social and political conditions. There is no more interesting chapter in the history of Virginia than the development of an intelligent and vigorous middle class out of the host of lowly immigrants that came to the colony in the 17th century. Splendid natural opportunities, the law of the survival of the fittest, and a government in which a representative legislature took an important part coöperated to elevate them. For many years after the founding of Jamestown the middle class was so small and was so lacking in intelligence that it could exercise but little influence in governmental affairs, and the governors and the large planters ruled the colony almost at will. During the last years of the 17th century it had grown in numbers, had acquired something of culture and had been drilled so effectively in political affairs that it could no longer be disregarded by governors and aristocracy.

In the development of the middle class four distinct periods may be noted. First, the period of formation, from 1607 to 1660, when, from the free immigrants of humble means and from those who had entered the colony as servants and whose term of indenture had expired, was gradually emerging a class of small, independent farmers. Second, a period of oppression, extending from 1660 to 1676. In these years, when William Berkeley was for the second time the chief executive of the colony, the poor people were so oppressed by the excessive burdens imposed upon them by the arbitrary old governor and his favorites that their progress was seriously retarded. Heavy taxes levied by the Assembly for encouraging manufactures, for building houses at Jamestown, for repairing forts, bore with great weight upon the small farmers and in many cases brought them to the verge of ruin. During this period the evil effects of the Navigation Acts were felt most acutely in the colony, robbing the planters of the profit of their tobacco and causing suffering and discontent. This period ends with Bacon's Rebellion, when the down-trodden commons of the colony rushed to arms, striking out blindly against their oppressors, and bringing fire and sword to all parts of Virginia. The third period, from 1676 to 1700, was one of growth. The poor people still felt the effects of the unjust Navigation Acts, but they were no longer oppressed at will by their governors and the aristocracy. Led by discontented members of the wealthy planter class, they made a gallant and effective fight in the House of Burgesses for their rights, and showed that thenceforth they had to be reckoned a powerful force in the government of the colony. The representatives of the people kept a vigilant watch upon the expenditures, and blocked all efforts to impose unjust and oppressive taxes. During this last quarter of the 17th century the middle class grew rapidly in numbers and in prosperity. The fourth period, from 1700 to the Revolution, is marked by a division in the middle class. At the beginning of the 18th century, there was no lower class corresponding with the vast peasantry of Europe. All whites, except the indentured servants and a mere handful of freemen whose indolence doomed them to poverty, lived in comparative comfort and ease. After the introduction of slaves, however, this state of affairs no longer existed and there grew up a class of poor whites, that eked out a wretched and degraded life. On the other hand planters of the middle class that had acquired some degree of prosperity benefited greatly by the introduction of slaves, for it lowered the cost of labor to such an extent that they were able to cultivate their fields more cheaply than before. At the time of the Revolutionary War the distinction had become marked, and the prosperous middle class farmers were in no way allied to the degraded poor whites.

During the first seventeen years of the colony's existence the character of immigration was different from that of succeeding periods. Virginia was at this time ruled by a private trading company. This corporation, which was composed largely of men of rank and ability, kept a strict watch upon the settlers, and excluded many whom they thought would make undesirable colonists.[139] As a consequence, the class of people that came over before 1624 were more enlightened than the mass of the settlers during the remainder of the century. The London Company looked upon the whole matter as a business affair, and they knew that they could never expect returns from their enterprise if they filled their plantations with vagabonds and criminals. Those that were intrusted with the selection of settlers were given explicit instructions to accept none but honest and industrious persons. When it was found that these precautions were not entirely effective, still stricter measures were adopted. It was ordered by the Company in 1622 that before sailing for Virginia each emigrant should give evidence of good character and should register his age, country, profession and kindred.[140] So solicitous were they in regard to this matter that when, in 1619, James I ordered them to transport to Virginia a number of malefactors whose care was burdensome to the state, they showed such a reluctance to obey that they incurred the king's displeasure.[141]

What tended strongly to attract a desirable class of men in the earliest years of the colony was the repeated attempt to establish manufactures. Until the charter of the London Company was revoked, that body never ceased to send over numbers of skilled artisans and mechanics. In 1619, one hundred and fifty workmen from Warwickshire and Stafford were employed to set up iron works on the James.[142] Repeated attempts were made to foster the silk industry, and on more than one occasion men practiced in the culture of the silk worm came to Virginia.[143] An effort was made to start the manufacture of glass,[144] while pipe staves and clapboards were produced in considerable quantities.[145] Moreover, numerous tradesmen of all kinds were sent to the colony. Among the settlers of this period were smiths, carpenters, bricklayers, turners, potters and husbandmen.[146] With the year 1624 there came a change for the worse in the immigration, for the lack of the Company's paternal care over the infant colony was keenly felt after the king undertook personally the direction of affairs. James I and, after his death, Charles I were desirous that Virginia should undertake various forms of manufacture, and frequently gave directions to the governors to foster industrial pursuits among the settlers, for they considered it a matter of reproach that the people should devote themselves almost exclusively to the cultivation of tobacco, but neither monarch was interested enough in the matter to send over mechanics and artisans as the Company had done, and we find after 1624 few men of that type among the newcomers.[147] The immigration that occurred under the London Company is, however, not of great importance, for the mortality among the colonists was so great that but a small percentage of those that came over in the early years survived the dangers that they were compelled to face. In 1622, after the memorable massacre of that year, there were but 1258 persons in the colony and during the next few years there was no increase in the population.[148]

The immigration to Virginia of free families of humble means began in the early years of the colony's existence, and continued throughout the 17th century. The lowness of wages and the unfavorable economic conditions that existed in England induced many poor men to seek their fortunes in the New World.[149] The law which allotted to every settler fifty acres of land for each member of his family insured all that could pay for their transportation a plantation far larger than they could hope to secure at home.[150] Thus it was that many men of the laboring class or of the small tenant class, whose limited means barely sufficed to pay for their passage across the ocean, came to Virginia to secure farms of their own. The number of small grants in the first half of the 17th century is quite large. Frequently patents were made out for tracts of land varying from fifty to five hundred acres in extent to immigrants that had entered the colony as freemen.[151] The law allowed them to include in the head-rights of their patents their wives, children, relatives, friends or servants that came with them, and some immigrants in this way secured plantations of considerable size. Thus in 1637 three hundred acres in Henrico County were granted to Joseph Royall, "due: 50 acres for his own personal adventure, 50 acres for the transportation of his first wife Thomasin, 50 acres for the transportation of Ann, his now wife, 50 for the transportation of his brother Henry, and 100 for the transportation of two persons, Robt. Warrell and Jon. Wells."[152] These peasant immigrants sometimes prospered in their new homes and increased the size of their plantations by the purchase of the head-rights of other men, and the cheapness of land in the colony made it possible for them to secure estates of considerable size. It is probable that the average holding of the small farmers of this period was between three and four hundred acres.[153]

Owing to the demand for servants and the cost of transporting them to the colony, it was seldom that any other than wealthy planters could afford to secure them. The wills of the first half of the 17th century show that few of the smaller planters even when they had attained a fair degree of prosperity made use of servant labor. Thus there was in Virginia at this period a class of men who owned their own land and tilled it entirely with their own hands. This condition of affairs continued until the influx of negroes, which began about the year 1680, so diminished the cost of labor that none but the smallest proprietors were dependent entirely upon their own exertions for the cultivation of their fields.[154]

These men, like the wealthy planters, raised tobacco for exportation, but they also planted enough corn for their own consumption. Their support was largely from cattle and hogs, which were usually allowed to wander at large, seeking sustenance in the woods or upon unpatented land. The owners branded them in order to make identification possible.[155] Some of the small farmers owned but one cow and a few hogs, but others acquired numbers of the animals. The testament of Edward Wilmoth, of Isle of Wight County, drawn in 1647, is typical of the wills of that period. "I give," he says, "unto my wife ... four milch cows, a steer, and a heifer that is on Lawns Creek side, and a young yearling bull. Also I give unto my daughter Frances a yearling heifer. Also I give unto my son John Wilmoth a cow calf, and to my son Robert Wilmoth a cow calf."[156]

The patent rolls, some of which have been preserved to the present day, show that the percentage of free immigrants to the colony was quite appreciable during the years immediately following the downfall of the London Company. There are on record 501 patents that were issued between the dates 1628 and 1637, and in connection with them are mentioned, either as recipients of land or as persons transported to the colony, 2,675 names. Of these 336 are positively known to have come over as freemen, and most of them as heads of families. There are 245 others who were probably freemen, although this has not yet been proved. The remainder are persons whose transportation charges were paid by others, including indentured servants, negroes, wives, children, etc. Thus it is quite certain that of the names on this list over one fourth were those of free persons, who came as freemen to Virginia and established themselves as citizens of the colony.[157] Although the patent rolls that have been preserved are far from complete, there is no reason to suspect that they are not fairly representative of the whole, and we may assume that the percentage of free families that came to the colony in this period was by no means small. As, however, the annual number of immigrants was as yet small and the mortality was very heavy, the total number of men living in Virginia in 1635 who had come over as freemen could not have been very large. The total population at that date was 5,000, and it is probable that at least 3,000 of these had come to the colony as servants.

After 1635 the percentage of free settlers became much smaller. This was due largely to the fact that at this time the immigration of indentured servants to Virginia increased very much. Secretary Kemp, who was in office during Governor Harvey's administration, stated that of hundreds of people that were arriving nearly all were brought in as merchandise.[158] So great was the influx of these servants, that the population tripled between 1635 and 1649. It is certain, however, that at no period during the 17th century did freemen cease coming to the colony.

With the exception of the merchants and other well-to-do men that formed the basis of the aristocracy, the free immigrants were ignorant and crude. But few of them could read and write, and many even of the most prosperous, being unable to sign their names to their wills, were compelled to make their mark to give legal force to their testaments.[159] Some of them acquired considerable property and became influential in their counties, but this was due rather to rough qualities of manhood that fitted them for the life in the forests of the New World, than to education or culture.

The use of the indentured servant by the Virginia planters was but the result of the economic conditions of the colony. Even in the days of the London Company the settlers had turned their attention to the raising of tobacco, for they found that the plant needed but little care, that it was admirably suited to the soil, and that it brought a handsome return. Naturally it soon became the staple product of the colony. The most active efforts of the Company and all the commands of King James and King Charles were not sufficient to turn men from its cultivation to less lucrative pursuits. Why should they devote themselves to manufacture when they could, with far greater profit, exchange their tobacco crop for the manufactured goods of England? It was found that but two things were essential to the growth of the plant--abundance of land and labor. The first of these could be had almost for the asking. Around the colony was a vast expanse of territory that needed only the woodman's axe to transform it into fertile fields, and the poorest man could own a plantation that in England would have been esteemed a rich estate. Labor, on the other hand, was exceedingly scarce. The colony itself could furnish but a limited supply, for few were willing to work for hire when they could easily own farms of their own. The native Americans of this region could not be made to toil in the fields for the white man, as the aborigines of Mexico and the West Indies were made to toil for the Spanish, for they were of too warlike and bold a spirit. Destruction would have been more grateful to them than slavery. Their haughtiness and pride were such that in their intercourse with the English they would not brook the idea of inferiority. No thought could be entertained of making them work in the fields. So the planters were forced to turn to the mother country. As early as 1620 they sent urgent requests for a supply of laborers, which they needed much more than artisans or tradesmen. The Company, although it did not relinquish its plan of establishing manufactures, was obliged to yield somewhat to this demand, and sent to the planters a number of indentured servants.[160] Thus early began that great stream of laborers, flowing from England to Virginia, that kept up without interruption for more than a century.

From the first the indenture system was in vogue. Circumstances made this necessary, for had no obligations been put upon the immigrants to work for a certain number of years in servitude, they would have secured tracts of ground for themselves and set themselves up as independent planters, as soon as they arrived in the country. It was found to be impossible to establish a class of free laborers. Also the system had its advantages for the immigrant. The voyage to the colony, so long and so expensive, was the chief drawback to immigration. Thousands of poor Englishmen, who could hardly earn enough money at home to keep life in their bodies, would eagerly have gone to the New World, had they been able to pay for their passage. Under the indenture system this difficulty was removed, for anyone could secure free transportation provided he were willing to sacrifice, for a few years, his personal freedom.

And, despite the English love of liberty, great numbers availed themselves of this opportunity. There came to Virginia, during the period from 1635 to 1680, annually from 1000 to 1600 servants. The immigration in the earlier years seems to have been nearly if not fully as great as later in the century. During the year ending March 1636 sixteen hundred people came over, most of whom were undoubtedly servants.[161] In 1670 Governor Berkeley estimated the annual immigration of servants at 1500.[162] But we need no better evidence that the stream at no time slackened during this period than the fact that the demand for them remained constant. So long as the planter could obtain no other labor for his tobacco fields, the great need of the colony was for more servants, and able-bodied laborers always brought a handsome price in the Virginia market. Col. William Byrd I testified that servants were the most profitable import to the colony.[163] The fact that the term of service was in most cases comparatively short made it necessary for the planter to repeople his estate at frequent intervals. The period of indenture was from four to seven years, except in the case of criminals who sometimes served for life, and without this constant immigration the plantations would have been deserted. Thus in 1671, when the population of the colony was 40,000, the number of servants was but 6,000.[164] Nor was there any sign of slackening in the stream until the last years of the century, when there came a great increase in the importation of negro slaves. As soon as it became practicable to secure enough Africans to do the work of the servants, the need for the latter became less pressing. For many reasons the slave was more desirable. He could withstand better the heat of the summer sun in the fields, he was more tractable, he served for life and could not desert his master after a few years of service as could the servant. We find, then, that after 1680, the importation of servants decreased more and more, until, in the middle of the 18th century, it died out entirely.

Thus it will be seen that the number of indentured servants that were brought to the colony of Virginia is very large. The most conservative estimate will place the figure at 80,000, and there is every reason to believe that this is much too low. Now, if we consider the growth of population in conjunction with these facts, it becomes evident that the indentured servant was the most important factor in the settlement of the colony. In 1671, according to the statement of Governor Berkeley, there were but 40,000 people in the colony.[165] The immigration of servants had then been in progress for fifty years, and the number brought over must have exceeded the total population at that date. Even after making deductions for the mortality among the laborers in the tobacco fields, which in the first half of this century was enormous, we are forced to the conclusion that the percentage of those that came as freemen was small.

We have already seen that the larger part of the servants were men that came over to work in the tobacco fields. Great numbers of these were drawn from the rural districts of England, where the pitiful condition of thousands of laborers made it easy to find recruits ready to leave for Virginia. So low were the wages given the farm hands at this period that their most excessive labor could hardly insure enough to support life, and, after years of hard work, they were often compelled to throw themselves upon charity in their old age. The pittance that they received seldom made it possible for them to secure food enough to sustain properly their arduous labors. Many worked for fourteen pence a day, and those that were most favored earned two shillings. The condition of the poorer class of workmen in the cities was, if possible, worse than that of the agricultural laborers, for economic conditions had combined with unwise laws to reduce them to the verge of starvation. Those that had not some recognized trade were compelled to labor incessantly for insufficient wages, and many were forced into beggary and crime. They were clothed in rags and their dwellings were both miserable and unsanitary. The number of those dependent upon charity for subsistence was enormous. In Sheffield, in 1615, a third of the entire population was compelled to rely in part on charity. No wonder these poor wretches were willing to sell their liberty to go to the New World! They had the assurance that whatever happened to them, their condition could not be altered much for the worse. In Virginia there was a chance of improvement, at home they were doomed to live lives of drudgery and misery.[166]

But not all the indentured servants came from this class. Some were persons of culture, and, on rare occasions, of means. The word "servant" did not at that time have the menial signification that it has acquired in modern times, for it was applied to all that entered upon a legal agreement to remain in the employment of another for a prescribed time.[167] There are many instances of persons of gentle blood becoming indentured servants to lawyers or physicians, in order to acquire a knowledge of those professions.[168] All apprentices were called servants. Tutors were sometimes brought over from England under terms of indenture to instruct the children of wealthy planters in courses higher than those offered by the local schools. Several instances are recorded of gentlemen of large estates who are spoken of as servants, but such cases are very rare.[169] What was of more common occurrence was the entering into indenture of persons who had become bankrupt. The severe English laws against debtors forced many to fly from the country to escape imprisonment, and there could be no surer way for them to evade their creditors than to place themselves under the protection of some planter as a servant and to sail for Virginia. How numerous was the debtor class in the colony is shown by an act of the Assembly in 1642, which exempted from prosecution persons that had fled from their creditors in England. The colonial legislators declared openly that the failure to pass such a law would have hazarded the desertion of a large part of the country.

At intervals large numbers of political prisoners were sent to Virginia. During the civil wars in England, when the royal forces were meeting defeat, many of the king's soldiers were captured, and many of these were sold to the planters as servants. A large importation took place after the defeat of Charles II at Worcester.[170] From 1653 to 1655 hundreds of unfortunate Irishmen suffered the consequence of their resistance to the government of Cromwell by banishment to the plantations.[171] After 1660, when the tables had been turned, and the royalist party was once more in power, there set in a stream of Commonwealth soldiers and nonconformists.[172] These were responsible for a rising in the colony in 1663, that threatened to anticipate Bacon's Rebellion by thirteen years.[173] The Scotch rebellion of 1678 was the occasion of another importation of soldiers. Finally, in 1685, many of the wretches taken at the battle of Sedgemoor were sent to Virginia, finding relief in the tobacco fields from the harshness of their captors.[174]

These immigrations of political prisoners are of great importance. They brought into Virginia a class of men much superior to the ordinary laborer, for most of them were guilty only of having resisted the party in power, and many were patriots in the truest sense of the word, suffering for principles that they believed essential to the welfare of their country.

We have already seen that under the London Company of Virginia few criminals were sent to the colony. After the dissolution of that body there was quite as great strictness in regard to the matter. As the Company had feared to fill the country with malefactors, knowing that it would ruin the enterprise in which they had expended so much time and money, so, in later years, the Virginia people were solicitous of the character of those that were to be their neighbors. They were firm in demanding that no "jailbirds" be sent them. On more than one occasion, when persons of ill repute arrived, they at once shipped them back to England. There existed, however, in the mother country a feeling that it was but proper to use Virginia as a dumping ground for criminals, and the magistrates from time to time insisted on shipping objectionable persons. But it is certain that the percentage of felons among the servants was not large. At one period only were they sent over in numbers great enough to make themselves felt as a menace to the peace of the colony. After the Restoration, when England was just beginning to recover from the convulsions of the preceding twenty years and when the kingdom was swarming with vicious and criminal persons, a fresh attempt was made to seek an outlet for this class in Virginia. A sudden increase in lawlessness in the colony aroused the people to the danger, and in 1670 the General Court prohibited the introduction of English malefactors into the colony.[175] Although in the 18th century criminals were sent to Virginia at times, their numbers were insignificant and their influence small.

Having examined the various types of men that entered Virginia as indentured servants, it now remains to determine to what extent these types survived and became welded into the social life of the colony. The importation of starving laborers and even of criminals was of vital importance only in proportion to the frequency with which they survived their term of service, acquired property, married and left descendants. The law of the survival of the fittest, which is so great a factor in elevating the human race, operated with telling effect in Virginia. The bulk of the servants were subjected to a series of tests so severe, that, when safely passed through, they were a guarantee of soundness of body, mind, and character.

The mortality among the laborers in the tobacco fields was enormous. Scattered along the banks of the rivers and creeks and frequently adjacent to swamps and bogs, the plantations were unhealthful in the extreme. Everywhere were swarms of mosquitoes,[176] and the colonists were exposed to the sting of these pests both by night and day, and many received through them the deadly malaria bacteria. Scarcely three months had elapsed from the first landing at Jamestown in 1607, when disease made its appearance in the colony. The first death occurred in August, and so deadly were the conditions to which the settlers were subjected that soon hardly a day passed without one death to record. Before the end of September more than fifty were in their graves. Part of the mortality was due, it is true, to starvation, but "fevers and fluxes" were beyond doubt responsible for many of the deaths.[177] George Percy, one of the party, describes in vivid colors the sufferings of the settlers. "There were never Englishmen," he says, "left in a forreigne countrey in such miserie as wee were in this new discovered Virginia, Wee watched every three nights, lying on the bare ground, what weather soever came; ... which brought our men to be most feeble wretches, ... If there were any conscience in men, it would make their harts to bleed to hears the pitifull murmurings and outcries of our sick men without reliefe, every night and day for the space of six weekes: some departing out of the World, many times three or foure in a night; in the morning, their bodies trailed out of their cabines like dogges, to be buried."[178] Of the hundred colonists that had remained at Jamestown, but thirty-eight were alive when relief came in January, 1608.

Nor were the colonists that followed in the wake of the Susan Constant, the Godspeed and the Discovery more fortunate. In the summer of 1609, the newcomers under Lord Delaware were attacked by fever and in a short while one hundred and fifty had died. It seemed for a while that no one would escape the epidemic and that disease would prove more effective than the Indians in protecting the country from the encroachment of the Englishmen.[179] How terrible was the mortality in these early years is shown by the statement of Molina in 1613, that one hundred and fifty in every three hundred colonists died before being in Virginia twelve months.[180]

In 1623 a certain Nathaniel Butler, who had been at one time governor of the Bermuda Islands, testified to the unhealthfulness of the colony. "I found," he says, "the plantations generally seated upon meer salt marishes full of infectious boggs and muddy creeks and lakes, and thereby subjected to all those inconveniences and diseases which are soe commonly found in the most unsounde and most unhealthy parts of England whereof everie country and clymate hath some." Butler asserted that it was by no means uncommon to see newcomers from England "dying under hedges and in the woods." He ended by declaring that unless conditions were speedily redressed by some divine or supreme hand, instead of a plantation Virginia would shortly get the name of a slaughter house.[181]

The mortality was chiefly among the newcomers. If one managed to survive during his first year of residence in the colony, he might reasonably expect to escape with his life, being then "seasoned" as the settlers called it. The death rate during this first year, however, was frightful. De Vries said of the climate "that during the months of June, July and August it was very unhealthy, that then people that had lately arrived from England, die, during these months, like cats and dogs, whence they call it the sickly season."[182] So likely was it that a newcomer would be stricken down that a "seasoned" servant was far more desirable than a fresh arrival. A new hand, having seven and a half years to serve, was worth not more than others, having one year more only. Governor William Berkeley stated in 1671, "there is not oft seasoned hands (as we term them) that die now, whereas heretofore not one of five escaped the first year."[183]

Robert Evelyn, in his Description of the Province of New Albion, printed in 1648, gives a vivid picture of the unhealthful climate of Virginia. He declared that formerly five out of every six men imported from Europe fell speedy victims to disease. "I," he said, "on my view of Virginia, disliked Virginia, most of it being seated scatteringly ... amongst salt-marshes and creeks, whence thrice worse than Essex, ... and Kent for agues and diseases ... brackish water to drink and use, and a flat country, and standing waters in woods bred a double corrupt air."[184]

Much of the ill health of the immigrants was undoubtedly due to the unwholesome conditions on board the ships during their passage from Europe. The vessels were often crowded with wretched men, women and children, and were foul beyond description. Gross uncleanliness was the rule rather than the exception. William Copps, in a letter to Deputy Treasurer Ferrar, says, "Betwixt decks there can hardlie a man fetch his breath by reason there arisith such a funke in the night that it causes putrifacation of blood and breedeth disease much like the plague." Often the number of persons that died at sea was frightful. One vessel lost one hundred and thirty persons out of one hundred and eighty. The disease started in this way was often spread in Virginia after the settlers had reached their new homes, and terrible epidemics more than once resulted.

If the assertion of Berkeley that four out of five of the indentured servants died during the first year's residence in the colony, or Evelyn's statement that five out of six soon succumbed, be accepted as correct, the number of deaths must have been very large indeed. Among the hundreds of servants that were brought to the colony each year a mortality of over eighty per cent would have amounted in a few years to thousands. Statements made in regard to early Virginia history are so frequently inaccurate, and the conditions here described are so horrible that one is inclined to reject this testimony as obviously exaggerated. However, a close examination of the number of persons that came to Virginia from 1607 to 1649, and of the population between those dates forces us to the conclusion that the statements of Berkeley and Evelyn were not grossly incorrect. When, however, Evelyn adds that "old Virginians affirm, the sicknesse there the first thirty years to have killed 100,000 men," it is evident that this rumor was false.[185] Yet even this is valuable because it shows in an indefinite way that the mortality was very large.

When we consider the fact that it was the lowest class of immigrants that were chiefly exposed to these perils it becomes evident how great a purifying force was exerted. The indentured servants more than any others had to face the hot sun of the fields, and upon them alone the climate worked with deadly effect.

But disease was not the only danger that the indentured servant faced in those days. At times starvation carried off great numbers. Even after the colony had attained a certain degree of prosperity famines occurred that bore with fearful weight upon the servants. In 1636 there was great scarcity of food and in that year 1,800 persons perished. A servant, in 1623, complained in a letter to his parents that the food that was given him would barely sustain life, and that he had often eaten more at home in a day than was now allowed him for a week.[186]

But if the servant survived all these dangers, if he escaped disease, starvation and the tomahawk, his task was not yet finished. He had then to build for himself a place in society. When the servant was discharged, upon the expiration of his term, he was always given some property with which to start life as a freeman. In the days of the Company, each was granted 100 acres of land, and, when this was seated, each was probably entitled to an additional tract of the same extent. After 1624 the servant received, at the end of his term of indenture, no allotment of land, but was given instead enough grain to sustain him for one year. Also he was to receive two sets of apparel, and in Berkeley's time a gun worth twenty shillings.[187] The cheapness of land made it easy for these men to secure little farms, and if they were sober and industrious they had an opportunity to rise. They might acquire in time large estates; they might even become leaders in the colony, but the task was a hard one, and those that were successful were worthy of the social position they obtained.

It is of importance to note that of the servants that came to the colony but a small number married and left descendants. Women were by no means plentiful. During the earlier years this had been a drawback to the advancement of the colony, for even the most prosperous planters found it difficult to secure wives. It was this condition of affairs that induced the Company to send to Virginia that cargo of maids that has become so famous in colonial history. As years went on, the scarcity of women became a distinct blessing, for it made it impossible for the degraded laborer, even though he ultimately secured his freedom, to leave descendants to perpetuate his lowly instincts. Of the thousands of servants whose criminal instincts or lack of industry made it impossible for them to become prosperous citizens, great numbers left the colony. Many went to North Carolina. As Virginia had served as a dumping ground for the refuse of the English population, so did this new colony furnish a vent for undesirable persons from Virginia. William Byrd II, who had an excellent opportunity to observe conditions in North Carolina while running the dividing line, bears testimony to the character of the immigrants to that colony from Virginia and Maryland. "It is certain," he says, "many slaves shelter themselves in this obscure part of the world, nor will any of their righteous neighbors discover them. Nor were the worthy borderers content to shelter runaway slaves, but debtors and criminals have often met with the like indulgence. But if the government of North Carolina has encourag'd this unneighbourly policy in order to increase their people, it is no more than what ancient Rome did before them."[188] Again he says, "The men ... just like the Indians, impose all the work upon the poor women. They make their wives rise out of their beds early in the morning, at the same time that they lye and snore, til the sun has run one third of his course.... Then, after stretching and yarning for half an hour, they light their pipes, and, under the protection of a cloud of smoak, venture out into the open air; tho' if it happens to be never so little cold, they quickly return shivering into the chimney corner.... Thus they loiter away their lives, like Soloman's sluggard, with their arms across, and at the winding up of the year scarcely have bread to eat. To speak the truth, tis a thorough aversion to labor that makes people file off to North Carolina, where plenty and a warm sun confirm them in their disposition to laziness for their whole lives."[189] The gangs of outlaws that infested North Carolina during the early years of the 18th century and defied the authority of the governors, were composed largely of runaway servants from Virginia. The laxness and weakness of the government made it an inviting place for criminals, while the numerous swamps and bogs, and the vast expanse of dense woods offered them a safe retreat.[190]

Many freed servants took up in Virginia unpatented land, trusting that their residence upon it might give to them in time a legal title. Others settled upon tracts that had been deserted. In some instances, where these people, or their descendants, had prospered and had built homes and barns and stables on the property, or had otherwise improved it, their claims to the land were confirmed by law. In other cases, when patents were made out to land already occupied by "squatters," the lowly settlers were forced to leave their farms and to seek homes elsewhere, probably on unclaimed territory in remote parts of the colony. This gave rise to that fringe of rough humanity upon the frontier, that spread continually westward as the colony grew. Many of the servants that escaped from their masters fled to the mountains, seeking refuge among the defiles and woods of the Blue Ridge or the more distant Alleghanies. The descendants of these wretched people still exist in the mountains of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky, exhibiting in their ignorance, their disregard for law, their laziness and even in their dialect the lowness of their origin.

The facts presented in the preceding paragraphs lead us inevitably to the conclusion that that portion of the vast body of indentured servants that were brought to Virginia which made its lasting imprint on the character of the population of the eastern countries was composed of men of sterling qualities, and was rather an element of strength than of weakness to the middle class into which they went. That many did rise to places of trust and influence is well established. There are numerous instances of servants, who, after serving their term of indenture, became burgesses, justices, etc. Thus John Trussell, who came over in 1622 as a servant, became a burgess in 1654.[191] The Assembly of 1629 included in its members William Warlick, William Poppleton, Richard Townsend and Anthony Pagett, all of whom had come to the colony under terms of indenture.[192] Gatford, a puritanical preacher of the Commonwealth period, wrote that at that time some of the former servants were still filling offices of trust in the colony. The author of Virginia's Cure asserted, in 1662, that the burgesses "were usuall such as went over as servants thither; and though by time, and industry, they may have obtained competent estates, yet by reason of their poor and mean condition, were unskilful in judging of a good estate, either of church or Commonwealth."[193] This, however, is undoubtedly an exaggeration. Yet, in 1651, Governor Berkeley, in an address to the Assembly, stated that hundreds of examples testified to the fact that no man in the colony was denied the opportunity to acquire both honor and wealth.

The chief occupation to which the freed servant turned was agriculture. During their term of indenture it was as field laborers that most of them had spent their time, and many were ignorant of any other means of earning a living. Moreover, farming was almost the only occupation open to them in the colony. Some, who had been trained upon the plantations as artisans, doubtless made use of their skill after becoming free to increase their incomes, but even these were forced to turn their attention chiefly to farming. With the payment that was made by the former master, and the land which it was so easy to obtain, the new freeman, if he were sober and industrious, was sure to wrest from the soil an abundant supply of food and perhaps enough tobacco to make him quite prosperous. He must first plant corn, for were he to give all his land to tobacco, he would starve before he received from it any returns. If things went well with him, he would buy hogs and cattle, and thereafter these would constitute his most valuable possession.

Some of the servants upon the expiration of their terms of indenture secured work as overseers, if they found it impossible to obtain patents to estates of their own. Throughout the greater part of the colonial period the position occupied by the overseer was preferable to that of the poorest class of independent farmers. His usual remuneration was a part of the crop. Sometimes he received only one-tenth of what was produced, but often his share was much greater, for cases are on record where he was to keep one half. Later the pay was regulated by the number of persons under his management, slaves as well as hired and indentured servants forming the basis of the calculation. Under both systems of payment he was liberally rewarded for his services.[194] The control of many laborers, the necessity for a knowledge of all the details of farming, the contact with his employer in matters of business made requisite in the overseer both intelligence and the power of command. Many were men of much ability and were trusted by the planters with the entire management of their estates. When the overseer worked upon the "home" plantation, he usually dwelt either in the mansion itself or in one of the group of houses nearby, in which were sleeping rooms used by members of the household or guests. He was treated always with courtesy and was accorded some social recognition by his aristocratic employer. Sometimes the overseer through ability and care accumulated property and became an independent planter.

Occasionally the servants upon the close of their term of indenture earned a subsistence as hired laborers. This, however, was not very common, for the opportunities for an independent existence were so great that few would fail to grasp them. There could be no necessity for laboring for others when land could be had so cheaply. Those that did hire themselves out were tempted usually by the excessive wages that could be obtained from wealthy planters. Throughout the 17th century, the difficulty of obtaining a sufficient supply of servants to keep in cultivation the tobacco fields of the colony, created a lively demand for labor and made wages higher than in England. Even in the early years of the century this state of affairs prevailed, and we find planters complaining of the excessive cost of hired labor and making urgent requests for indentured servants.[195] Despite the high price of tobacco that prevailed before 1660, it was the general opinion that no profit could be made from it when hired laborers were used in its cultivation, and it is probable that they were never employed except when the supply of servants fell far short of the demand. In the 18th century, when the importation of many thousands of slaves had lowered the price of labor in the colony, the employment of hired hands became still less frequent.

The existence of high wages for so many years accelerated the formation of the middle class, for the hired laborer could, if he were economical, save enough to purchase land and to become an independent farmer. So crude were the agricultural methods then in use in the colony that very little capital was needed by the small planters, and tobacco and corn could be raised by them almost as economically as upon the large plantations. Moreover, since men of the middle class could seldom afford to employ laborers to till their fields, they were in a sense brought into competition with the wage earner. The price of tobacco was dependent in large measure upon the cost of production, and could not, except upon exceptional occasions, fall so low that there could be no profit in bringing servants from England to cultivate it, and this fact reacted favorably upon those that tilled their fields with their own hands. On the other hand this very circumstance made it hard for the small farmer to enlarge the scope of his activities. Unless he had obtained a fair degree of prosperity, it would be impossible for him to purchase servants or hire laborers and the output of his plantation was limited to his own exertions, or those of the members of his family.

By 1660, the middle class was fully formed. From the thousands of indentured servants that had been brought to the colony numerous families had emerged which, though rough and illiterate, proved valuable citizens and played an important rôle in the development of the country. Added to the free immigrants of humble means they formed a large body that needed only organization and leaders to wield a powerful influence in governmental affairs.

In the second period, from 1660 to 1676, the prosperity of the middle class was seriously impaired by oppression by England and misgovernment and tyranny in the colony. The Navigation Acts, which were designed by the English to build up their commerce, regardless of the consequences to their colonies, injured Virginians of all classes, but bore with telling weight upon the poor independent planters. Moreover, the arbitrary rule of Governor William Berkeley, the corruption of the Assembly, the heavy and unjust taxes and the frequent embezzlement of public funds conspired to retard the advancement of the middle class and to impoverish its members.

The beginning of England's oppressive policy towards the commerce of her colonies must date from 1651, when Parliament passed a stringent Navigation Act, forbidding the importation of any commodities into England or its territories except in English vessels or vessels of the nation that produced the goods.[196] This law was aimed chiefly at the Dutch carrying trade, which was so extensive that it had aroused England's jealousy, but it came as a serious blow to Virginia. A large part of her exports had for many years been transported by the Dutch, and the entire exclusion of the "Hollanders" could not fail to react unfavorably upon her prosperity. The immediate effect, since it relieved the English ship owners of much of the competition with which they had contended, was to raise the cost of transportation.

The Virginians protested strongly. In a speech to the Assembly, Governor Berkeley, fairly foaming with rage, denounced the act. "We," he said, "the Governor, Councell and Burgesses of Virginia, have seene a printed paper ... wherein (with other plantations of America) we are prohibited trade and commerce with all but such as the present power shall allow of: ... we think we can easily find out the cause of this the excluding us the society of nations, which bring us necessaries for what our country produces: And that is the averice of a few interested persons, who endeavour to rob us of all we sweat and labor for."[197]

But the evil was to some extent avoided during the Commonwealth period, owing to constant evasions of the law. There is abundant evidence to show that the Dutch trade, although hampered, was by no means stamped out, and Dutch vessels continued to carry the Virginia tobacco just as they had done during the reign of Charles I. In the year 1657, there was a determined effort to enforce the law, and the advance in the charges of transporting the crop of that year, indicates that this effort was partly successful. The freight rate rose from £4 a ton to £8 or £9, and in some cases to £14.[198]

A more serious blow came in 1660. A bill was passed prescribing that no goods of any description should be imported into or exported from any of the king's territories "in Asia, Africa, or America, in any other than English, Irish, or plantation built ships."[199] It was also required that at least three-fourths of the mariners of these ships should be Englishmen. Moreover, another feature was added to the law which was far more oppressive than the first provision. It was enacted that "no sugar, tobacco, cotton, wool, indigo, ginger, justic, and other dying woods, of the growth or manufacture of our Asian, African, or American colonies, shall be shipped from the said colonies to any place but to England, Ireland, or to some other of his Majesty's plantations."

The results of this law were ruinous to Virginia. At one blow it cut off her trade with all countries but England and her colonies, and raised enormously the cost of transportation. Although England was the largest purchaser of tobacco, Holland and other countries had taken a large part of the crop each year. The colonists were now forced to bring all their crop to England, and an immediate glut in the market followed. The English could neither consume the enormously increased supply of tobacco, nor rid themselves of it by exportation to continental countries, and it piled up uselessly in the warehouses. An alarming decline in the price followed, which reacted on the planters to such an extent that it brought many to the verge of ruin. The profit from tobacco was almost entirely wiped out.

The effects of this law are clearly shown in a paper by a London merchant named John Bland, which was presented to the authorities in England, protesting against the injustice done to the colonies. "If," he says, "the Hollanders must not trade to Virginia how shall the planters dispose of their tobacco? the English will not buy it, for what the Hollander carried thence was a sort of tobacco, not desired by any other people, nor used by us in England but merely to transport for Holland. Will it not then perish on the planters' hands?... the tobacco will not vend in England, the Hollanders will not fetch it from England; what must become thereof? even flung to the dunghil."[200]

The people of Virginia were reduced almost to despair. They made desperate efforts to raise the price of their staple product. Communications were entered into with Maryland and North Carolina to restrict the planting of tobacco in order to relieve the overproduction, but negotiations failed, giving rise to much bitterness and contention.[201] Similar proposals were made by Virginia from time to time, but the effort was never successful. In 1664, the whole tobacco crop of Virginia was worth less than £8.15s for each person in the colony. In 1666 a large portion of the crop could not be sold at any price and was left on the hands of the planters.[202]