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How Did Tobacco Affect Colonial America

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The tobacco plant was introduced to the colonists by the Native Americans. The concept of smoking a plant was unusual for the colonists until they first tried it. It became a popular and important commodity when the colonists realized trading tobacco was lucrative. Their attitude towards tobacco turned from joyful and curious to greedy and avaricious since it was bankable, benefiting both the North American and English economies. The landowners took advantage of the indentured servants, slaves and farmers. Government officials were corrupt since they imposed illegal tolls on tobacco and pirates from all nations took to violence by pirating English vessels that had tobacco goods. The tobacco trade turned the colonists into exploitative, corrupt and even violent people.

Tobacco changed the colonists into exploitative people since they overworked the indentured servants in the tobacco fields to increase the tobacco production. Colonists discovered the recreational and …show more content…

Legal tolls were placed on vessels carrying tobacco goods as a form of tax, but some officials like Captain Crofts placed illegal tolls on vessels to make extra money. “It was the force of government that enabled the royal treasury to collect a legal toll and officers like Captain Crofts an illegal toll on tobacco trade” (Morgan 204). The corrupt royal navy officers and Virginians serving in colonial government exploited their authority and found ways to make easy money from the tobacco trade. The corrupt officials imposed illegal taxes, which not only affected plant owners but also the farmers and other lower class citizens involved in the tobacco trade. This shows that people during the colonial times were greedy and exploiting each other for money that came from the tobacco market. Tobacco trade changed people into sinister and greedy people as they were taking advantage of the poor and lower social

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329 Words | 2 Pages

[Document A] John Rolfe is thought of as the economic savior if the colony and the father of tobacco. Soon the desire for tobacco was almost incapable of being met. Advertisements like Document B were used throughout the colony and the Old World. Tobacco was one of the first products to be advertised.

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195 Words | 1 Pages

The colonists were taking the Native American's property and taking advantage of the native Americans in the trade by getting them drunk so they could get more land. King Philip, the religious leader the Native Americans.

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1242 Words | 5 Pages

Based on Brook’s description in his book, tobacco originates from America. Tobacco can induce strong psychotropic effects, so it has religious properties, and for this reason Shamans used it to induce trances and peer into the future. Besides, it also has medicinal properties because it can relieve patients’ pains. In addition, tobacco was a crucial medium of sociability that could help native Americans improve relations with each other. Therefore, tobacco was an important part of native Americans’ daily life (Timothy Brook, p.124-125).

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279 Words | 2 Pages

In Virginia, people mostly focused on growing of staples and exotic crops for cash. The crops that they grew in their colony were rice, indigo, and tobacco. But in Virginia, tobacco was the crop that they focused on, in fact, tobacco was the first most famous staple crop grown and became their economic foundation. As far as working in the fields, Virginia started off with indentured servants to perform the labor, but as they became expensive they shifted to purchasing slaves. Mortality rates were higher because of diseases that many of them came in contact with, men were expected to live to forty and women weren’t expected to live past their thirties.

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101 Words | 1 Pages

The colony of Virginia wasn’t always efficient in the growth and trade of tobacco. To understand the role tobacco played in the development of the economy and society of the once destitute colony, we first must look back at how Virginia was established. Although not considered to be a part of the founding of Virginia, before 1607 there were two attempts made by English settlers to establish a colony in the Chesapeake region of North America. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth first of her name, a charter was granted to English settlers that would allow for colonies to be established

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1009 Words | 5 Pages

Although the tobacco withholding initially sought to raise tobacco prices, William and Arthur Lee foresaw boycott for political potential. Urging the famers to cease exportation aided in pushing against the recently mandated Boston Port Act; rework the tobacco industry; and provide political a political agenda for the tobacco

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117 Words | 1 Pages

Tobacco was the basis of economic life and a motivation for settling down in Jamestown. This helped result in an increase of settlers. The English expansion sparked war in 1622 led by Opechancanough. This war resulted in a tragic death of about a third of the nation. Particularly, the English inhabitants seized Indian’s land and food, cornering the Indian citizens towards limiting possibilities; needless to say they ended up dispersing.

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578 Words | 3 Pages

These colonies came across numerous hardships with war, famine, and political turmoil, in the 1600’s. These colonies worked for commercial purposes and neglected the need for relationship building with natives, safety, and resource gathering, so much so that they lost many early settlers. Working as an indentured servant was brutal in these colonies. Growing, storing, and packaging tobacco was very labor intensive work. Though indentured servants maintained contracts providing them with food, housing, and clothing, often times terms of service were lengthened.

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539 Words | 3 Pages

Imports of lead, glass, paper, paint, and tea were taxed; the British government wanted the colonists to pay so they created punishments for colonists who

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1165 Words | 5 Pages

Times were much simpler, yet worse, in March 1610 as there were only about sixty of us colonial men left standing and we were lucky to even still be alive due to the high mortality rate. Fast forward forty years later, and now families have been shipping in by the thousands, although some do not last long due to lingering diseases. I have made an assumption that the water we have been drinking may be a cause of all the disease that is continuously being spread amongst the people, but people seem to be more focused on tobacco and the natives. However, priorities were not always based on tobacco, because before John Rolfe blessed the colony with his discoveries there was the issue of maintaining a stable society on this

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1136 Words | 5 Pages

One positive effect the trade of tobacco had on Europe was the economic benefits that came with growing tobacco. Europe forbid trade with other countries from the colonies unless granted permission. This allowed Europe to get the crops and resources needed in order to thrive. Tobacco became one of the important crops, because gold was not as big of a resource as they thought it would be. The economic benefits came to Europe from the ability of Europe to tax tobacco sales that were done to Native Americans, as well as the selling of tobacco in Europe itself (Colonial Tobacco).

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204 Words | 1 Pages

This outraged many of the colonist who did not feel like they should be taxed for items they normally received for free. Their outrage led

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752 Words | 4 Pages

Those in Massachusetts were puritans and looking for a place where they would be free from religious persecution. Wealthy people who could afford the boat journey and did not have to become indentured slaves went for a more settled life. In 1616 John Rolfe imported tobacco seeds to Virginia, as the plants needed long and hot humid seasons. The first people who were granted the right of possessing land authorized the people to cultivate worn out land and grow better crops, as tobacco depletes minerals and nutrients from the ground.

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625 Words | 3 Pages

According to Huron Indian myth, in ancient time, when the lands were barren and people were starving, the ‘Great Spirit’ sent forth a woman to save humanity. As she travelled over the world, where over her right hand touched the soil potatoes grew, where over her left hand touched, the soil corn grew and when the soil became rich and fertile, she sat down and rested, when she stood up tobacco grew on the place where she was resting (5).Tobacco has a long history in the Americas. The Mayan Indians of Mexico carved drawings in stone showing tobacco use. These drawings date back to somewhere between 600 to 900 A.D. Americans Indians grew tobacco before the Europeans came from England, Spain, France, and Italy to North America (6).It was not

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840 Words | 4 Pages

Tobacco, in many of its different forms, is incredibly harmful to the human body. It is the product of curing the nicotine- rich tobacco leaves present in American plants called Nicotiana Tabacum. Those leaves are cured in various processes of drying and fermentation and are used to produce tobacco which in fact, has miscellaneous uses including smoking and chewing. No matter how tobacco is used, it is never helpful for the body. As a matter of fact, replacing the cigarettes with hookah or pipes does not lessen the nefarious impacts that the tobacco and its different ingredients have on our bodies.

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