The Headright and the Rise of the Tobacco Nouveau-Riche Class
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Set:

Objectives

1. The students will recite headright law orally and describe its origins in the Colony, and its impact on land distibution.
2. The student will explain in both written and oral form how the law expanded tobacco production as a cash crop, and the expansion into tidewater and Piedmont Virginia.
3. The student will demonstrate knowledge of the class differentiation caused by the consignment system of selling tobacco.
4. The student will find on a map the James River, and discuss and write 3 reasons why tidewater and Piedmont Virginia facilitated tobacco growth.
5. The student will debate in groups of four the importance of tobacco on establishing a cash crop to benefit the colony, and as a factor in the differentiation of class.
6. The student will formulate an argument demonstrating their knowledge of tobacco as an important crop for the Virginia colony.

Materials

• The Great Charter of 1618
• Edmund S. Morgan: Slavery and Freedom
• King James' discourse on the evils of tobacco
• http://www.tobacco.org/History/Jamestown.html
• Background Information on the Tobacco Class and the Teacher Ouline on the Tobacco Class

Relevance

This lesson will help students understand how the rise of the ruling class of Virginia came to be. Also, it will allow students to shed twentieth century perspectives, especially concerning tobacco production and the contraversy that surrounds it today. It is vital that students understand that tobacco was the colony's main crop, and their currency as well. Were it not for tobacco, the colony's economy would have collapsed, and slavery might have never reached the shores of America. The question of inevitability is one that many historians do not like to debate, but it important for students to realize that things could have been different under other circumstances.

Involvement of the Learner

• The teacher should being the lesson by asking students what they think an acre of land would cost today. After gauging their reponses, the teacher should add that in Colonial Virginia, land was purchased by passage. Also , the teacher should ask the students if they think the colony would have been better off without tobacco?
• The teacher should then begin to relate the relevant facts from the background information included in the link from materials. Explain to them that tobacco was the major revenue in the colonies and those who did not produce it were left out of the loop.
• Ask if there are any questions on the fundamental importance of tobacco as a staple of the economy, and society in general.

The students will then divide into groups of four, and talk for a short time about tobacco as an important feature of the colony. The activity for understanding calls for students to pretend that they are travelling in time through the past and finds themselves in Jamestown around 1620. When they arrive, they find that King James has outlawed the growing of tobacco under "penaltie of death." As timetravelers, you know the importance that tobacco has had on the growth of our nation. It is your job to use your knowledge of the future and past, and to convince King James that he must allow the growing of tobacco, or else the colony will not suceed. What would be your argument?

The teacher should have the students read their pleas out loud, and have the rest of the class evaluate the approach for effectiveness. The teacher should close the class by emphasizing the importance of tobacco growth for the survival of the colony. The teacher should watch for current event cases of tobacco lawsuits, and finish the lesson with these questions:

1) Why was tobacco so important for the growth and survival of the colony? Do not limit your answer to the seventeenth century.

2) Why is it important to think of historical issues within their own time frame?

3) Can we trace the development of this country through an agricultural path for some parts of our history?

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URL for this page: http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu.