Name: ________________________
John Rolfe and Tobacco: Virginia’s Cash Crop
John Rolfe was a planter. He grew corn and beans on his
plantation. He liked to smoke a pipe, so he decided to grow tobacco
too. The Indians grew tobacco in America long before the Englishmen
came. Rolfe tried some of the tobacco that Powhatan’s Indians grew,
but he did not like it.
Men in England bought their tobacco from the Spanish colonies in Central America and
in South America. Rolfe liked this tobacco, so he got some tobacco seed from a Spanish colony
and planted it in his field. It grew well in the rich Virginia soil. When it was ready to use, Rolfe
put some in his pipe and smoked it. He liked it very much. He thought people in England
might like to buy good tobacco from Virginia instead of buying it from the Spanish colonies.
Rolfe sent some of his next tobacco crop to be sold in England. Englishmen liked it.
Other planters began to grow Rolfe’s kind of tobacco, and soon Englishmen were buying all
the tobacco the Virginia planters could grow. Tobacco became the “cash crop” of the colony
in 1612. A cash crop is a reliable plant that is grown for selling to others to making money.
Tobacco wasn’t the shiny gold that the Virginia Company had hoped their economic venture
would find, but tobacco did make money for Jamestown. Tobacco farming became popular,
because many planters wanted to earn money from selling their tobacco. The Virginia
planters paid in pounds of tobacco for everything they bought. So the more tobacco they
grew, the more “money” they had to buy stuff with! Tobacco was called “brown gold” and
“green gold,” because when tobacco is grown in the ground it is a green color; when it is dried,
the tobacco leaves turn a brown color.
When the planters sold their tobacco in England, they did not get money for it. Instead,
they asked the man who sold the tobacco for them to send them things from England that
they could not buy in Virginia. They asked him to buy clothes and furniture and other things
for their homes. They asked him to buy horses and cows and sheep for their plantations.
Directions: Choose the best answer.
1. Who grew tobacco long before the
Englishmen came to America?
A. The Spanish
B. The Indians
C. John Rolfe
D. The Italians
2. Where had men from England bought
their tobacco before 1612?
A. The Spanish colonies
B. The Indians
C. Virginia
D. Pirates off of Africa
3. What about Virginia made tobacco
grow well?
A. The sun
B. The frequent rains
C. The salt air
D. The rich soil
4. Who was the person responsible for
sending the first tobacco to England
from Virginia?
A. John Smith
B. Captain Newport
C. John Rolfe
D. Chief Powhatan
5. In Virginia, what did tobacco become
in 1612?
A. An economic venture
B. Cash crop
C. Bonus check
D. Wealthy plant
6. What was a reliable plant that is
grown for selling to others to making
money called?
A. An economic venture
B. A stock
C. A share
D. A cash crop
7. In what year did tobacco become the
cash crop in Virginia?
A. 1607
B. 1620
C. 1619
D. 1612
8. Why was tobacco called “brown
gold”?
A. The tobacco was like chocolate
B. The was the color it’s dried leaves
C. Tobacco was part of house walls
D. Tobacco was stored in a brown
room