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A little about What are
Headrights? From the Library of Virginia http://www.lva.virginia.gov/whatwehave/local/va4_headrights.htm In order to encourage immigration into the colony, the Virginia Company, meeting in a Quarter Court held on 18 November 1618, passed a body of laws called Orders and Constitutions which came to be considered "the Great Charter of privileges, orders and laws" of the colony. Among these laws was a provision that any person who settled in Virginia or paid for the transportation expenses of another person who settled in Virginia should be entitled to receive fifty acres of land for each immigrant. The right to receive fifty acres per person, or per head, was called a headright. The practice was continued under the royal government of Virginia after the dissolution of the Virginia Company, and the Privy Council ordered on 22 July 1634 that patents for headrights be issued.
From
The McGeehee Clan [The term headrights in connection with a
patent for land has been subject The Headright Systemhttp://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1153.html Business and Industry, Colonial VirginiaThe early inhabitants of Jamestown were employees of the Virginia Company and were supposed to direct their labors toward the production of profits for the investors. It quickly became apparent that gold and silver did not exist in appreciable amounts in eastern North America, a fact that left the colony without a cash crop and the resultant threat of bankruptcy. The advent of the tobacco economy in the 1610s changed the course of Virginia’s development. Tobacco production required large tracts of land and many workers. The company held title to tremendous amounts of land, but had few workers at their disposal. In 1618, the headright system was introduced as a means to solve the labor shortage. It provided the following:
The ability to amass large plots of land by importing workers provided the basis for an emerging aristocracy in Virginia. Plantation owners were further enriched by receiving headrights for newly imported slaves. The implementation of the headright system was an important ingredient in Virginia’s success. Land ownership gave many people a reason to work hard, with the assurance that they were providing for their own futures, not that of the company.
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