Exploring American Histories: Printed Page 95
Interpret the Evidence
What seem to be the biggest challenges that indigo planters faced, and how did they overcome those challenges?
What advantages did indigo production have for planters and for the American colonies?
How would you compare the descriptions of growing indigo by Eliza Lucas Pinckney (Document 3.6), George Milligen-Johnston (Document 3.7), and the London pamphleteer (Document 3.8)? What different insights do you gain about the importance of slave labor in these three documents, and why does only the London pamphleteer mention slave labor directly?
On what grounds does James Habersham (Document 3.10) promote the introduction of indigo into Georgia?
What does the image of slaves working on an indigo plantation (Document 3.9) convey about indigo’s production and about the experience of slaves? How would you compare it with the written descriptions in Documents 3.7 and 3.8?
Put It in Context
How did the initiative of North American planters in developing new crops for export shape the development of the southern colonies and the economic relations between the colonies and Great Britain?
How did planters respond to their vital need for more labor, and how did enslaved laborers respond to the harsh demands of cultivating cash crops like rice and indigo?