Everyday life, work and trade in New England, the Middle Colonies and the South
Grade 8 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence
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Virginia, tobacco and the first Africans, 1619 (cards A to D). Card A, John Rolfe, a Virginia colonist, reporting the arrival at Point Comfort in late August 1619, as the National Park Service prints his words (editors' brackets and cut as printed): "About the latter end of August, a Dutch man of Warr of the burden of a 160 tunes arrived at Point-Comfort, the Comandors name Capt Jope, his Pilott for the West Indies one Mr Marmaduke an Englishman. … He brought not any thing but 20 and odd Negroes, w[hich] the Governo[r] and Cape Merchant bought for victuall[s]." Card B, a summary in our words from the National Park Service: the landing was in late August 1619, now believed to be August 25. The ship was not Dutch, as Rolfe wrote, but the White Lion, an English privateer sailing under Dutch authority, which had captured its human cargo from the Spanish slave ship São João Bautista. The people were bound for the Caribbean and South America, not Virginia, and the White Lion stopped in Virginia for rations. The Park Service says they were skilled farmers, herders, blacksmiths and artisans, and that the landing marked the beginning of 246 years of slavery in the United States. Card C, from the National Park Service's Historic Jamestowne: tobacco was a labor-intensive crop. In 1619 John Rolfe reported to Sir Edwin Sandys of the Virginia Company that a Dutch ship had brought "20 and odd Negroes, which the Governor and Cape Merchant bought for victual… at the best and easiest rate they could." European indentured servants also worked in the fields, but by 1700 the institution of slavery was firmly established in Virginia. Card D, the Park Service on tobacco's start: the Virginia Company was pleased when Rolfe's experimental tobacco proved a success. In 1614 the colonist Ralph Hamor reported, as the Park Service prints him: "…I doubt not [we] will make and return such Tobacco this year, that even England shall acknowledge the goodness thereof."
Card A is John Rolfe's report of the August 1619 arrival. What is it best evidence for, Ari asks?
- How the Africans on the ship described their own voyage and capture
- What historians now conclude about the Africans' homelands and capture
- What one colonist reported about the arrival, in his own words
- Exactly which ship it was, whose flag it flew and who owned it
Card A calls the ship Dutch; card B says it was an English privateer. What should Luz conclude?
- Throw out card A completely, since it has an error about the ship's flag and origin
- Card A must be right, since Rolfe was in Virginia and the National Park Service was not
- Rolfe's report shows the arrival, and later research corrects the ship's identity
- The cards agree on each detail, including the ship, its flag and its origin
A student says: "Virginia planters ordered the Africans from a slave trader in 1619." How strong is that claim, given cards A and B, Jun asks?
- Weak: card B says they were taken from a Spanish ship bound for other colonies
- Strong: card B says Virginia planters were their destination from the start
- Strong: card A says the governor and merchant bought them, so they ordered them
- Weak: card A says the ship sailed to Africa to fetch them for the planters
Which chain from cards A and B best explains how Africans came to Point Comfort in 1619, Pia asks?
- A Dutch merchant brought them as the cargo meant for Virginia, and sold them as planned
- Tobacco profits led planters to order workers from Africa and send ships to fetch them
- A privateer seized them from a Spanish slave ship and traded them in Virginia for food
- Virginia sent a ship to Africa to buy workers, and the ship returned to Point Comfort
Card C says Rolfe reported to Sir Edwin Sandys of the Virginia Company. How might that audience shape his report, Milo asks?
- He gives practical facts about the ship and what was bought, for company officers
- He writes to defend the Africans and plead for their freedom before the Company
- He writes mainly to give tobacco prices and crop forecasts to the Company's officers
- He writes to Parliament to propose a law on buying and selling the Africans
Card A says the Africans were "bought for victuall[s]", meaning food. What does that wording show about the viewpoint, Zee asks?
- It says the Africans were given food and supplies by the colonists on arrival
- It is the neutral view of an observer with no stake in the trade or the colony
- It is the Africans' viewpoint, since they were the ones being traded for food and supplies
- It is the colonists' view, treating people as goods, with the Africans' view missing
Card C says slavery was firmly established in Virginia by 1700. About how many years after the 1619 landing is that, Kira asks?
- About 8 years
- About 19 years, counting from 1700 to 1719
- About 246 years, the length of slavery in the United States
- About 80 years
A student says: "Tobacco was the only reason slavery grew in Virginia." How strong is that claim, given card C, Ren asks?
- Weak: card C says tobacco needed little labor, so slavery grew for other reasons entirely
- Strong: card C says indentured servants did all the work in the tobacco fields
- Strong: card C says tobacco was very profitable, so it must be the only reason
- Weak: card C links tobacco's heavy labor to slavery's rise but not as the only reason
Cards A and C span 1619 to 1700. What changed in Virginia, Esme asks?
- In 1619 the institution of slavery already existed in Virginia law and custom
- By 1619 slavery was firmly established, and by 1700 it had faded away from the colony
- In 1619 some twenty Africans were landed; by 1700 slavery was firmly established
- By 1700 indentured servants had been replaced entirely by enslaved workers in Virginia
Which new evidence would best show the legal status of the Africans who landed in 1619, Noah asks?
- Slave laws passed in 1705 and the codes that followed in later decades
- Tobacco price lists from 1620 and the shipping lists that came with them
- A modern article repeating card B's account of the ship and its cargo
- Virginia records of the 1620s, such as court cases, wills and censuses
