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Question

Difficulty: MediumChesapeake and Southern Colonies

"Whereas there are divers contracts and covenants made between merchants, masters, and servants, transportable to this colony... Be it enacted that all servants brought into this country who have no indentures shall serve according to their ages: if under twelve years, until they reach twenty-four; if between twelve and nineteen, for seven years; if above twenty, for five years. And all masters shall provide for their servants competent meat, drink, apparel, and lodging during their service, and at the end of their term, they shall be given customary allowances of grain and apparel."
— Act of the Virginia House of Burgesses, 1643

The labor system regulated by the law in the excerpt most directly contributed to which of the following social and political developments in the Chesapeake region during the late seventeenth century?

  1. A
    The immediate implementation of lifelong, hereditary labor systems to ensure a permanent workforce for tobacco plantations.
  2. B
    The establishment of tight-knit, family-based agricultural communities centered around local church congregations.
  3. The growth of a large class of landless, disenfranchised young men who had completed their terms of service, leading to increased social instability.Answer
  4. D
    The decline of tobacco cultivation as colonial assemblies sought to diversify their economies in accordance with imperial trade guidelines.

Answer

The growth of a large class of landless, disenfranchised young men who had completed their terms of service, leading to increased social instability.
The correct answer is correct because indentured servitude led to a large population of free but landless and impoverished laborers in the late seventeenth century. This demographic group became increasingly dissatisfied with their lack of economic opportunities and political representation, culminating in Bacon's Rebellion in 1676, which prompted planters to transition toward African chattel slavery.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the stimulus document to identify the labor system and geographic context.
The document is an act from the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1643 regulating the terms of service for servants without indentures, showing a reliance on indentured servitude in the Chesapeake region.
Understanding the context of early Chesapeake labor is necessary to trace its long-term social and political effects.
2
Evaluate how the completion of indenture terms by thousands of servants impacted Chesapeake society over time.
As indentured servants completed their terms, they expected land and political rights, but most arable land was monopolized by wealthy planters, leaving former servants landless and discontented.
Tracing the demographic and social shift from servants to free, landless laborers helps explain late-seventeenth-century developments.
3
Connect this social discontent to the key historical developments of the late seventeenth century.
This discontent led directly to Bacon's Rebellion in 1676, a major uprising of landless laborers and former servants against the colonial elite, which accelerated the transition to African chattel slavery.
This links the regulation of indentured servitude directly to the primary social and political consequences of the system.

Key Concept

The social and economic consequences of the headright system and indentured servitude in the Chesapeake colonies.
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Topics

Chesapeake and Southern Colonies

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