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Jamestown, and Tabacco
Sir John Rolfe brought tobacco with him to the colony which started the production of tobacco. -
Slaves and the cotton
The first slaves were brought to Virginia from Angola in west central Africa. This was the start of slavery causing slaves to pick cotton and live on plantations to help with agriculture. Since Africans were trapped as slaves and treated as property so they decided to fight for their civil rights. This eventually led to the Civil Rights Movement and the Civil War. -
The Wool Act
Under the rule of King William III, the British Parliament issued the Wool Act which prohibited American colonists from exporting wool or wool products outside of the colony in which it was produced. The king banned the export of sheep to the American colonies in an effort to protect England’s wool industry. Wool could only be imported into the colonies by Great Britain. The Wool Act was one of a series of taxes that divided Great Britain and its colonies in America. -
Virginia Exports
Staves, timber, corn, wheat, peas, beans, masts, pig iron, feathers, pork, cotton, earthenware ‘parcels,’ woodenware ‘parcels,’ bacon, hides, deerskins, beaver skins, oak and walnut logs, cider , beef, wine pipes, snakeroot, tallow, brass ‘parcels,’ and copper ore casks. Items imported included rum, salt, Irish linen, fish, chocolate, molasses, sugar, earthenware, ‘woodware,’ millstones, Madeira wine, cheese, rice, ironware, and ‘parcels from Great Britain.’ -
Public land act
The Public Land Act authorized federal land sales to the public in minimum 640-acre plots at $2 per acre in an attempt to encourage the settlement and the production of agriculture of western lands. -
Jefferson's plow
Thomas Jefferson was inspired to improve the plow so that it lifts up and turns over the sod cut by the iron share and coulter. -
Population spike
The total U.S. population was 3,929,214; farmers made up 90% of the labor force. -
Potash
On July 31, 1790 Samuel Hopkins was issued the first patent for a process of making potash, an ingredient used in fertilizer. Potash, or potassium, is the third major plant and crop nutrient after nitrogen and phosphorus. It has been used since antiquity as a soil fertilizer (about 90% of current use). Consider how the easy availability of this element would impact agriculture production. -
Cotton Gin
The cotton gin was invented by Eli Whitney and due to this invention the demand for raw cotton doubled each decade after the year 1800. -
Agricultural Exports
From 1800-1809, the average annual value of agricultural exports totaled $23 million or 75% of total exports. -
North and south economies
By the 1800s the Northern states began to industrialize and export manufactured goods.The Southern economy relied on producing and exporting cotton, sugar, rice, tobacco and wheat. The South also depended heavily on food imported from the upper-Mississippi valley. Production of work intensive cash crops like cotton and tobacco expanded and the Southern economy became increasingly dependent on slave labor to keep the price of its crops competitive. -
Farm labor
About 250-300 labor-hours were required to produce 100 bushels (5 acres) of wheat with a walking plow, brush harrow, hand broadcast of seed (scattering of seeds by hand), sickle, and flail.