Document 3.5 Virginia Slave Laws, 1662 and 1667
Document 3.6 Joseph Ball Instructs His Nephew on Managing Enslaved Workers, 1743
Document 3.7 Enslaved Blacks Working on a Tobacco Plantation, c. 1750
Document 3.8 Richard Corbin Describes How to Become a Successful Planter, 1759
Document 3.9 Lieutenant Governor William Gooch to the Board of Trade, London, 1729
Interpret the Evidence
Why did Virginia lawmakers decide that slave status should pass through the mother’s (rather than father’s) line and would be unaffected by baptism (Document 3.5)?
What do the descriptions of slave life and labor by Joseph Ball and Richard Corbin reveal about the attitudes of Virginia planters toward enslaved workers (Documents 3.6 and 3.8)?
How does the engraving (Document 3.7) portray the roles of planters, managers, and enslaved workers? What are the most notable differences between the black and white figures in this image?
What issues about slave life on a tobacco plantation are raised by Lieutenant Governor William Gooch (Document 3.9), and how do they compare with the image presented in the engraving (Document 3.7) and the writings by planters (Documents 3.6 and 3.8)?
Put It in Context
What were the relationships among the growing demand for tobacco, the actions of Virginia politicians and planters, and the lives of enslaved laborers?
What were the greatest challenges faced by white colonists (slave owners and non-slave owners) and by black laborers as the Atlantic slave trade expanded between 1680 and 1750?
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