Existing comment:
1616
John Deacon, Tobacco Tortured: Or, the Filthie Fume of Tobacco
Fearful of health hazards, King James I of England denounced tobacco. King Charles I endorsed the economic gain tobacco would bring to Virginia. Indentured servants were lured to the colony to grow it. When their supply failed to meet demand -- and when enslaved labor was seen to produce the greatest tobacco profits -- the importation of slaves increased. By 1700, a rigid system of perpetual racial bondage was in place. |