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]
History of Jamestown, Virginia (1607–99) Although most people "wouldn't touch" the crop, Rolfe was able to make his fortune farming it, successfully exporting beginning in 1612. Soon almost all other colonists followed suit, as windfall profits in tobacco briefly lent Jamestown something like a gold rush atmosphere. Among others, Rolfe quickly became both a wealthy and prominent man. He married the young Virginia Indian woman Pocahontas on April 24, 1614. They lived first across the river from Jamestown, and later at his Varina Farms plantation near Henricus. Their son, Thomas Rolfe, was born in 1615.