the attitude of the colony itself to the freedmen. "The Court, taking
into consideration that the next ensueing year there will be many
tenants and servants freed unto whom after their freedom there will be
no land due, whereby they may without some order taken to the contrary
settle and seat themselves ... have ordered that the Governor and
Council may give unto the said servants and tenants leases for terms of
years such quantities of land as shall be needful."[4-9] Thus, at this
period at least, not only was it expected in the colony that servants
would become land holders, but it was felt that for them not to do so
was a matter of such grave concern as to require the special attention
of the Government.

After all, however, the key to the situation must be sought in the
history of tobacco culture and the tobacco trade. Tobacco was the
universal crop of the colony and upon it every man depended for his
advancement and prosperity. If the market was good and the price high,
the planters flourished; if sales fell off and the price was low, they
suffered accordingly. It is evident, then, that the ability of the
freedman to secure a position of economic independence hinged upon the
profit to be derived from his little tobacco crop. It does not matter
whether he worked as a wage earner, tenant or freeholder, in the end the
result would be the same. If the returns from his labor greatly exceeded
his expenses, his savings would make it possible for him to establish
himself firmly in the class of the colonial yeomanry. On the other hand,
if he could wring from the soil no more than a bare subsistence, he
would remain always a poor laborer, or perhaps be forced to seek his
fortune in some other colony. Thus if we are to understand the status of
the freed servant and the hope which he could entertain of advancement,
it is necessary to turn our attention once more to economic conditions
in the colony. First, we must determine the amount of tobacco the
freedman could produce by his unassisted labor; second, the price he
received for it; third, how much he had to give the merchants in
exchange for their wares; and finally, the margin of profit left after
all expenses had been paid.

Despite a marked divergence of testimony regarding the amount of tobacco
one man could cultivate, we are able to determine this matter with some
degree of exactness. In 1627 the King, in outlining a plan to take into
his own hands the entire tobacco t