Ben Howson
09/17/15
Us History
Question: "What does this evidence tell us about life in colonial Virginia?"
The York Country records of 1648 shows us that life at that time completely revolved around tobacco. The economy was all about tobacco, so much so, that tobacco pretty much became the currency. Every slave owner wanted the most amount of tobacco, so that they could make a lot of money. By looking at the records, most men are European indentured servants, and next to their name, they have the amount of time they have worked for, and to the right, it says how many pounds of tobacco they have collected. But this is actually what they are worth, and if they were to be sold, this is the amount of money that they would be sold for. But on the list there are also two black males, but next to their names, there is no amount of time, and to the right it says that they have both collected 2000 pounds of tobacco. Like I said, this number is actually their value, and because there is no time, in which they will have to stop working they are more expensive than the european indentured servants. They will work for ever, and who ever, being sold back and forth between owners. This really shows us that life in colonial Virginia was very hard for those who were indentured servants and slaves.
