ginia yeoman, the sturdy, independent
farmer of the Seventeenth century, who tilled his little holding with
his own hands, had become an insignificant factor in the life of the
colony. The glorious promises which the country had held out to him in
the first fifty years of its existence had been belied. The Virginia
which had formerly been so largely the land of the little farmer, had
become the land of masters and slaves. For aught else there was no
room.

Before the end of the Eighteenth century the condition of the poorest
class had become pitiable. The French philosopher Chastellux who spent
much time in Virginia during the American Revolution testifies to their
extreme misery. "It is there that I saw poor persons for the first time
since crossing the ocean," he says. "In truth, near these rich
plantations, in which the negro alone is unhappy, are often found
miserable huts inhabited by whites whose wan faces and ragged garments
give testimony to their poverty."[8-41]

Philip Fithian, in his _Journal_, describes the habits of this class and
is vigorous in his condemnation of the brutal fights which were so
common among them. "In my opinion animals which seek after and relish
such odius and filthy amusements are not of the human species," he says,
"they are destitute of the remotest pretension of humanity."[8-42] Even
the negroes of the wealthy regarded these persons with contempt, a
contempt which they were at no pains to conceal.

The traveller Smyth thought them "kind, hospitable and generous," but
"illiberal, noisy and rude," and much "addicted to inebriety and averse
to labor." This class, he says, "who ever compose the bulk of mankind,
are in Virginia more few in numbers, in proportion to the rest of the
inhabitants, than perhaps in any other country in the universe."[8-43]

But it must not be imagined that slavery drove out or ruined the entire
class of small farmers, leaving Virginia alone to the wealthy. In fact,
most of those who were firmly established remained, finding their
salvation in themselves purchasing slaves. Few indeed had been able to
avail themselves of the labor of indentured servants; the cost of
transportation was too heavy, the term too short, the chances of
sickness or desertion too great. But with the influx of thousands of
negroes, the more enterprising and industrious of the poor planters
quite frequently made purchases. Although the initial outlay was
greater, they could secure cred