what did the headright system offer to get settlers to come to jamestown
Headright The headright system began in Jamestown, Virginia in 1618[1] as an attempt to solve labor shortages due to the advent of the tobacco economy,[2] which required large plots of land with many workers. The disproportion that existed between the amount of land available and the population led to a situation with a low supply of labor, resulting in the growth of indentured servitude and of slavery. The headright system also served to attract new colonists. Colonists who had already been living in Virginia were each given[when?] two headrights of 50 acres (200,000 m2); immigrant colonists who paid for their passage were given one headright, and individuals would subsequently receive one headright each time they paid for the passage of another individual. This last mechanism increased the division between the wealthy land-owners and the working poor. Headrights were given to heads-of-households, and because 50 acres were accumulated for each member of the household, families had an incentive to make the passage to the colonies together.[3]
Slavery in the colonial United States At first, indentured servants were used as the needed labor.[13] These servants provided up to seven years of service in exchange for having their trip to Jamestown paid for by someone in Jamestown. Once the seven years was over, the indentured servant was free to live in Jamestown as a regular citizen. However, colonists began to see indentured servants as too costly, in part because the high mortality rate meant the force had to be resupplied. In 1619, Dutch traders brought African slaves taken from a Spanish ship to Jamestown; in North America, the Africans were also generally treated as indentured servants in the early colonial era.[14]