History of the Colonial Virginia (3 Volumes Edition). Thomas J. Wertenbaker
Moreover, the misfortunes that preceded the Rebellion stirred in the breasts of the poor farmers a feeling of brotherhood, causing them to realize that their interests were common, and that by common action alone could they guard their interests. After 1676 we find that the middle class had become a self-conscious body, watching jealously every action of the Council or of the governors and resisting with energy and success all measures that seemed to them detrimental to their interests.
The period from 1676 to 1700 was marked by the growth of the middle class both in material prosperity and in political power. It is true that the Navigation Acts were still in force and that the price of tobacco continued for a while so low that little profit could be made from it, but the people were no longer so dependent on the plant as in former times. The poor farmers had been forced by absolute necessity to produce upon their own estates nearly all the articles necessary for their maintenance and comfort, and could no longer be put so completely at the mercy of the English merchants. Although the attempts of the Assembly to establish public industries proved futile, the end that had been held in view was in some measure attained by the petty manufacture upon the little plantations. The farmers' wives became expert spinners and weavers and supplied themselves and their husbands with coarse cloth sufficient for their humble needs. By planting less tobacco and more corn they could be sure of a plentiful supply of bread, while their cattle and hogs furnished them with milk and meat. The planting of apple or peach trees assured them not only fruit in abundance, but made it possible for them to make cider or brandy that were excellent substitutes for imported liquors. Their furniture could be fashioned with their own hands, while, except in rare cases, even household utensils might be made upon the farm. Thus the small farmer to some extent prospered.
Before the end of the 17th century it was rare indeed to find freemen in the colony living in poverty. There were none whose condition was at all comparable for misery and want to the vast body of paupers that crowded the English cities and eked out an existence as laborers upon the farms. Robert Beverley, who wrote in 1705, called Virginia the best poor man's country in the world. He declared that the real poor class was very small, and even these were not servile.215 As early as 1664 Lord Baltimore had written that it was evident and known that such as were industrious were not destitute. Although this was certainly an exaggeration, when applied to the period succeeding the Restoration, it became strictly true after Bacon's Rebellion, when the people were no longer oppressed with burdensome taxation. Hugh Jones, writing during Governor Spotswood's administration, stated that the common planters lived in "pretty timber houses, neater than the farm houses are generally in England."216 "They are such lovers of riding," he adds, "that almost every ordinary person keeps a horse." So favorable were the conditions in which the small farmers found themselves that a fair degree of prosperity was often obtained by them even though they were lacking in industry. Hugh Jones says, "The common planters leading easy lives don't much admire labour, except horse-racing, nor diversion except cock-fighting, in which some greatly delight. This easy way of living, and the heat of the summer makes some very lazy, who are said to be climate-struck."
The fourth period in the development of the middle class extends from 1700 to the Revolution. It is marked by a split in the class, some of the small planters becoming wealthy, others failing to advance in prosperity, while still others degenerated, falling into abject poverty. This was almost entirely the result of the substitution of slave labor for the labor of the indentured servant. The importation of negroes had begun early in the 17th century, but for many years their numbers were so few that the vast bulk of the work in the fields had been performed by white men. In 1625 there were about 465 white servants in Virginia and only 22 negroes.217 In 1649, when the population of the colony was 15,000, there were but 300 slaves.218 In 1671, Governor Berkeley stated that there were only 2,000 slaves in Virginia, although the population was at that date about 40,000.219 Near the end of the century, the number of negroes brought to the colony increased very much. The Royal African Company, which had obtained the exclusive right to trade in slaves with the English possessions, stimulated this human traffic to such an extent that negroes were soon found in every part of Virginia. By the year 1700 the number of slaves was about 6,000.220 The negroes proved more suited to the needs of the planters than the white servants, for they served for life, were docile and easy to manage, stood well the unhealthful conditions in the tobacco fields, and, most important of all, they cheapened vastly the cost of production. The wealthy planters who had for so many years been limited in the amount of land they could place under cultivation by the number of servants they could procure, now found it possible to extend the scope of their operations. Before the end of the century such men as Byrd and Carter and Fitzhugh owned scores of slaves. It was this circumstance more than any thing else that accounts for the increased prosperity of the colony which is so noticeable during the first quarter of the 18th century.221
The more prosperous and capable members of the middle class shared to some extent the benefits resulting from negro labor. Many that had been unable to secure servants now bought slaves and thus were able to increase very much the output of their plantations. The shortness of the time that the servants served, the great cost of transporting them to the colony and the risk of losing them by death or by flight, had made it impossible for the small farmers to use them in cultivating their fields. Since negro labor was not attended with these objections, many planters of humble means bought slaves and at one step placed themselves above the class of those that trusted to their own exertions in the tilling of their fields. When once a start had been made, the advance of their prosperity was limited only by the extent of their ability and industry. Some became quite wealthy. Smythe, writing in 1773, stated that many of them formed fortunes superior to some of the first rank, despite the fact that their families were not ancient or so respectable.
Those members of the middle class who were unable, through poverty or incapacity, to share the prosperity of the early years of the 18th century were injured by the general use of slave labor in the colony. Since they could not purchase negroes, they were in a sense thrown into competition with them. The enormous increase in the production of tobacco brought down the price and made their single exertions less and less profitable. They were deprived of the privilege of working for wages, for no freeman could toil side by side with negroes, and retain anything of self-respect. Thus after the year 1700, the class of very poor whites became larger, and their depravity more pronounced.222 A Frenchman, travelling in Virginia at the time of the Revolution, testified that the condition of many white families was pitiful. "It is there," he said, "that I saw poor people for the first time since crossing the ocean. In truth, among these rich plantations, where the negro alone is unhappy, are often found miserable huts, inhabited by whites, whose wan faces and ragged clothes give testimony of their poverty."223 It is certain that this class was never large, however, for those that were possessed of the least trace of energy or ambition could move to the frontier and start life again on more equal terms. Smythe says that the real poor class in Virginia was less than anywhere else in the world.
The introduction of slavery into the colony affected far more profoundly the character of the middle class farmer than it did that of the aristocrat. The indentured servants, upon whose labor the wealthy planters had relied for so many years, were practically slaves, being bound to the soil and forced to obey implicitly those whom they served. The influence that their possession exerted in moulding the character of the aristocracy was practically the same as that of the negro slave. Both tended to instil into the master pride and the power of command. Since, however, but few members of the small farmer class at any time made use of servant labor, their character was not thus affected by them. Moreover, the fact that so many servants, after the expiration of their term of indenture, entered this class, tended to humble the poor planters, for they realized