Ch. 4 Section 2
The Southern Colonies:
Plantations and Slavery
1. Where were most of the early plantations located?
•The Tidewater
2. Where is the tidewater?
•Flat land along coast
3. a. What are “cash crops”?
•Crops raised to be sold for money
b. What “cash crops” were grown in southern
plantations?
•Rice, tobacco, indigo
4. What was needed to grow these cash crops?
•Labor- enough workers to produce them
5. Why weren’t there many large urban centers (cities) in the
South?
Plantations were self-sufficient (produced most of
the things they needed right on the plantations)
6. a. Who were the “elite” in the South?
•Plantation owners
b. What did they control?
•Were like nobility in other countries
Political and economic power
7. Fill in the class system pyramid:
(Planters)
Poor Freemen
(Indentured Servants)
Slaves
8. What caused many of the early conflicts in the South?
•Desire for more land and wealth
9. Who controlled the Tidewater region?
•Rich planters
10.
a. Where did poorer freemen settle?
•Western frontier
a. Who did they have to fight for this land?
•Native Americans
11. What did Nathaniel Bacon and other
landless frontier settlers complain about?
•High taxes
•Favoritism toward large plantation
owners
12. What did Bacon want?
•Help fighting the Native Americans at
the frontier settlements
13. What happened as a result of Virginia
Governor William Berkeley refusing to
help frontier settlements against Native
Americans?
•Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)
•Bacon took control of the House of
Burgesses and burned down
Jamestown to the ground.
14. How did the House of Burgesses strengthen
colonists’ rights after Bacon’s Rebellion?
• They passed
laws limiting
the powers of
the royal
governor.
15. Why did tensions develop between
Tidewater and frontier settlers?
•Rich vs. Poor
•The frontier settlers resented the rich
planters of the coast (Tidewater) and
their control of the government.
16. What caused a shortage of workers in the
1660s?
•White indentured servants finished their
terms of service and fewer laborers were
moving to the Southern Colonies.
17. Why didn’t the planters use Native
Americans as slaves?
•They died of diseases brought by
Europeans.
•They were also able to escape because they
knew the area well.
18. Why did southern planters turn to slavery?
They needed cheap labor for plantations
Couldn’t find enough indentured servants
19. How did the growing number of slaves affect
southern laws?
Laws were passed to define slavery and to control
slaves
20. Who watched over and directed the work of
the slaves?
Overseers
21. What happened if the slaves didn’t look
like they were doing their jobs?
They were whipped.
22.What happened if they defied their
masters?
They were tortured or mutilated.
23. Why did planters seek out slaves from
West Africa?
They had the skills needed to grow rice.
24.
a. What was indigo?
A plant that produces blue dye
b. Who introduced it as a cash crop?
Eliza Lucas
25. How did African Americans resist
enslavement?
•Worked slowly
•Damaged goods
•Rebelled
•Carried out orders incorrectly
•Pretended not to understand orders
26. What happened as a result of slave
uprisings like Stono Rebellion?
Planters made stricter slave codes:
•Slaves were forbidden to leave plantations
without written permission
•Illegal for slaves to meet free blacks
27. The Northern and Southern Colonies developed into distinct regions. List ways
they were different. Complete the chart.
South
North
Large slave populations
Diverse economy
Plantation economy – based
on cash crops (i.e.,
tobacco, rice, indigo)
Wealth more evenly
distributed
Less diverse
The wealth concentrated in
the hands of an elite
(planters)
Scattered settlements, few
towns
Self-sufficient plantations
Smaller farms
Larger, more
numerous towns