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Difficulty: MediumChesapeake and Southern Colonies

"For having, upon specious pretences of public works, raised great unjust taxes upon the Commonalty for the advancement of private favorites... For having protected, favored, and emboldened the Indians against His Majesty’s loyal subjects, never contriving, requiring, or permitting any hostile admittance or pursuit against them..."
— Nathaniel Bacon, "Declaration of the People," 1676

Which of the following was a major consequence of the social and political tensions that culminated in the conflict described in the excerpt?

  1. Southern planters shifted away from white indentured servants and increasingly relied on enslaved African labor.Answer
  2. B
    Colonial governments in the region abandoned cash-crop agriculture in favor of small-scale family-run subsistence farming.
  3. C
    The Virginia Assembly passed laws gradually phasing out labor obligations, granting full land ownership to all indentured servants.
  4. D
    The British Crown dismantled the mercantile system to allow colonies to trade freely with other European powers.

Answer

Southern planters shifted away from white indentured servants and increasingly relied on enslaved African labor.
The correct answer is correct because Bacon's Rebellion highlighted the dangerous instability of relying on a large population of landless, disenfranchised former indentured servants. In response, the Virginia planter class accelerated the transition to enslaved African labor, which did not carry the same long-term political threat of demanding land and representation.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the historical context of the stimulus.
The excerpt is from Nathaniel Bacon's 1676 declaration during Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia, highlighting grievances regarding high taxes and colonial policy toward Native Americans.
Identifying the author, date, and historical event establishes the core conflict between disenfranchised western settlers (largely former indentured servants) and the eastern planter elite.
2
Evaluate the political and social consequences of the rebellion.
Elite planters realized that a large population of landless, armed, and discontented former indentured servants posed a direct threat to the stability of the colony.
Connecting the immediate grievances of the rebellion to the long-term labor needs of the plantation economy explains the shift in labor systems.
3
Identify the long-term transition in the labor force.
Planters turned away from contract-based white indentured servitude and turned to permanent, hereditary African chattel slavery as their primary labor source.
This labor transition minimized the growth of a landless, free white class and allowed planters to maintain rigid control over the workforce.

Key Concept

The transition from indentured servitude to chattel slavery in the Chesapeake colonies.
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Topics

Chesapeake and Southern Colonies

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