Essay on Labor Problem at Jamestown - 723 Words

The Labor Problem at Jamestown, 1607-1618 By Edmund S. Morgan In 1502, Columbus set sailed on his last voyage to the New World. The year 1606, James I issues a charter to the Virginia Company for tract of land along the mid-Atlantic coast. This led to Jamestown. The first settlement in America was Jamestown. It was established in 1607 with a 104 male settlers, which was led my John Smith. This article is about the early hard times with Jamestown. Soon it led up to the American Revolution, but the article only goes up to 1618. The article overall idea was the problem with labor in Jamestown. It talked about the people, laws, wealth, etc. The main points in this article were: Spanish discovers, Native American troubles, and working†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"The company in England was convinced by 1609 that the settlers would have to grow at least part of their own food,†(page 5, Morgan). The settlers had to step up since Indian labor plan was not going to work well. The task they had to accomplish depended on their life. Settle rs had to work from five in the morning to around eight at night. Winter conditions changed the time a little by taking off about 2 hours. Complaints started coming up about laziness and irresponsibility from the workmen. People started raising prices to survive. Men were always hungry barely having the energy to work. That was one of the excuses some men brought up to explain why there working they way they are. The author explains more indebt of the laziness and problems. Even men with large amounts of land could not afford labors. The government issued laws for problems with work and labor, â€Å" Sometimes men were obliged to take on a poor boy as a servant whether they needed him or not. The parish might lighten the burden by paying a fee, but it might also fine a man who refused to take a boy assigned to him,†(page 7, Morgan). Things were falling apart. Jamestown was mostly used for pasture farming areas. It was used to grow grain for bread. They got a lot of their food from the woods where there were nuts and berries. â€Å" The most obvious English analogy to the Jamestown settlement was that of a military expedition,†(page 9, Morgan). JamestownShow MoreRelatedSlavery Was Considered Acceptable And Licit984 Words   |  4 Pagesof time prior to the delineation of authorized regulation of slavery. In 1513, Spaniards traveled across the Atlantic Ocean and arrived on the mainland of North America. Creating settlements in the new-found continent, their pursuit of finding free labor became indispensable. Throughout the decades after their discovery of North America, the Spanish shipped over thousands of both black and white people to make them profitable and productive (Winch 1). 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