>>>>> There were many contributing factors that affected the price of tobacco during Bacon's Rebellion. Those contributing factors caused the decrease in tobacco prices. A number of authors and historians have suggested that there are many reasons for Bacon’s Rebellion. The primary contributing factors were tobacco taxation, production and health reasons. Though these all connect to the cause of tobacco’s decreasing price, supply and demand has the greatest effect.
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>>>>>In the Chesapeake, increased supply made the cost of tobacco affordable to both the rich and the poor. The Virginia Company started to produce and trade tobacco which attracted indulgence of tobacco. At first, the "...Virginia Company had no plans to grow and sell tobacco [,]" (Roark pg.77) however, “John Rolfe… planted West Indian tobacco seeds in 1612 and learned they flourished in Virginia” (Roark pg.77). Since the amount of tobacco produced increased, tobacco became affordable to a wider range of people, not just the wealthy. Tobacco "...became an affordable indulgence used often by many people" (Roark pg.77). Due to affordability colonists, slaves and Native Americans became consumed by tobacco. The availability gave all people the option to smoke tobacco. Some colonists said, “[e]veryone smokes while working or idling" (Roark pg.77). The cost of tobacco caused more intensive work for colonists to farm crop on the fields in Virginia.
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>>>>>Tobacco farming needs caused the settlers to keep up with consumption demands by accumulating more land to grow the crop. The demand for land to grow tobacco was very important to Bacon’s Rebellion. Without land there was less growth of tobacco crops. This caused invasion onto Native American lands. There was a large demand for tobacco, and for hard labor from settlers, to produce enough to meet the tobacco demand. As the demand for tobacco increased, production of enough tobacco crops was essential. This demand caused more work for the settlers. The "...planters grew as much tobacco as possible” (Roark pg.77). The planters, whom were overworked, consisted mostly of indentured servants and slaves, both black and white. It was said that “the English settlers worked hard because their labor promised greater rewards…” (Roark pg.77). The hard work from these settlers meant that they received certain rewards for their work, such as land or time taken off of their indentured servitude. Having enough land was vital for planters to grow enough tobacco. Colonists cleared lands to plant tobacco crop in a unique way. The colonists cleared lands to plant tobacco by clearing all trees, but leaving the stumps, and planting around them. The American Promise by James L. Roark says that “Girdling brought sunlight to clearing but left fields studded with tree stumps, making the use of plows impractical” (Roark pg. 77). “Girdling” is a process where the colonists cut a ring around the tree, eventually causing the tree to die. This process allowed planters to produce more tobacco crop for trade.
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>>>>>In the 1600’s, tobacco was traded in many different ways to many different colonies. The increase in trade and demand affected the cost of tobacco, causing the price to decrease. Tobacco was mostly traded from the Chesapeake to the Europeans. English colonists traded tobacco which was sold mostly in European markets. “…English colonists in North America sent so much tobacco to European markets that it became an affordable indulgence used often by many people” (Roark pg.77). Europe decided the cost of tobacco colonists grew and sold. “The colonists grew tobacco to sell to English but English set the price” (Zinn and Stefoff pg. 39). With the price set by the Europeans, the colonists would grow the tobacco then sell it for a price less than they expected. Trade was an important way for colonists to increase tobacco consumption. Physicians told the consumers that tobacco was good for their health, causing them to use more tobacco.
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>>>>>Colonists in the Chesapeake also consumed large amounts of tobacco because physicians and doctors told the settlers that smoking tobacco was an herbal way to “cleanse” your body. These people called it a “holy drug” by which you could be cured. The American Promise by James L. Roark wrote about these beliefs, that “physicians praised it as a wonder drug.” Some settlers did not believe that this was true. They believed it was harmful to their bodies and to their own health. England’s King James contradicted that smoking was healthy by saying that smoking was “A custome lothsome to the eye , hatefull to the the Nose, harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the Lungs, and in the blacke stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible…smoke of the pit that is bottomelesse” (Roark pg. 80). Today the known health effects of tobacco have worsened.
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>>>>> Americans today tend to believe that consuming tobacco is bad for your health. Consuming tobacco has remained quite popular today, however, we now have strict laws and there are more harmful effects caused by the use of tobacco and heightened concerns of secondhand smoke. Tobacco consumption has been booming in recent times. Due to popular demand, use of tobacco has increased dramatically. Throughout the last decade, unlike the Chesapeake, tobacco prices have increased. Tobacco is sold with a “Sin tax” which is a tax levied on specific goods. This tax has increased the cost of tobacco which is causing it to become more and more expensive. Recently we have had tougher laws towards smoking because of the effects of secondhand smoke on non-smokers. Recent laws have prohibited smokers from smoking within 25ft of a building and in public places; the Washington State Legislature passed the law, RCW 70.160.030, which states that “No person may smoke in a public place or in any place of employment.” Tobacco continues to affect boundary lines today. Tobacco also has very harmful effects which are more harmful to your body than in the Chesapeake times. A lifetime or less of smoking can cause cancers and lung diseases. Within tobacco, makers have included additives to cigarettes, causing people to become more addicted. Truth.com says that "Because of the tobacco industry’s products, about 339 people in the U.S. die of lung cancer every day" (Truth facts). They also say that “[i]n the U.S., 34,693 people die each year from cancers other than lung, trachea, and bronchus caused by smoking" (Truth facts). These long term effects severely cause trauma to the human body and eventually may cause death.
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>>>>>Tobacco prices had become affordable to everyone, not only the rich. Since these prices decreased and it became an affordable indulgence, settlers became more addicted to smoking tobacco. In conclusion, I agree that these reasons were all significant during Bacon’s Rebellion. Action was caused by a supply and demand effect of producing and using tobacco. Because of this supply and demand, there was an influx of decreasing prices in tobacco during the 1600’s, which increased popularity. The increased popularity in smoking raised health issues which remain today.
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Citations:
- Tobacco and Slaves: The Development of Southern Cultures in the Chesapeake, 1680-1800. By Allan Kulikoff
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=NCvU9_bj-1QC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=Bacon%27s+Rebellion+tobacco+consumption&ots=AxtdkPGJKd&sig=kKrpNAWlGMfwQK1Bsm11x3f1Mhc
- http://www.thetruth.com/facts/facts.cfm?category=135
-http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=70.160.030
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