Influence Of Tobacco On American Culture

In the pilgrims’ original country, they were not likely to survive; however, with the introduction of tobacco in the new-found land, the pilgrims obtained a new chance to proper. Tobacco was historically, politically, and culturally significant to the development of the United States. From a historically perspective, the introduction of tobacco to the new settlers and into the European world developed a new way of life. Because tobacco was in high demand in Europe, poor Europeans, especially English men who were searching for a way to survive and prosper, migrated to the new world (p. 42). This caused the population of the settlements to triple and the demand for habitable and cultivable land to rise, resulting in conflicts with the Native Americans who were the original inhabitants of the land. As this continued, the institution of indentured servitude become the prominent way to recruit workers that would work the land; however, because land owners wanted a cheaper way to recruit workers, they started buying free labor slaves, which lead to the Transatlantic slave trade.

Before the rise of tobacco, slavery existed; however, it was not a system of abuse which discriminated against peoples because of their skin color but a system resulting from war or debt which put a person in bondage only for a time (p.27). in this new society, color became a way to distinguish between the powerful and the weak, the servant and the slave, the human and the animal. In England, yeoman were servants, so they could not accumulate huge amounts of wealth, but after tobacco, almost anyone who was dedicated to gaining wealth had the chance to do