In the 1600s and 1700s in Virginia, tobacco was so valuable that it was used as money. Consumers could use tobacco to pay for goods, pay fines, and even to pay to get married. In particular, the tobacco farmers would export, or ship the tobacco out of the country, to England. England relied on the colonies for natural resources such as lumber because their natural resources were depleted from centuries of use. The King and Parliament made a law that said that the American colonies had to import manufactured goods from England, and export crops and natural resources. Because the colonies could only get manufactured goods from England, it became important to grow tobacco to exchange for these goods.
Farmers would export their goods in barrels called hogsheads. A hogshead held about 1000 pounds of tobacco. Farmers in the 1700s would send their tobacco to merchants in England along with an invoice for the goods they wanted to buy. If the farmer wanted to buy goods from the merchant before the tobacco was ready to be shipped, the merchant would give him credit, and send the goods now and let the farmer pay with his tobacco when it was ready.
George Washington sent this invoice to an English merchant named Robert Cary in 1761:
Mount Vernon, October 12th, 1761
Gentlemen,
Herewith you will receive sundry invoices for goods wanted, those for my own and the children's use. Please to send by Captain Johnson or the first vessell bound for this river in the spring.
…300 yds best cotton, 4 pieces best Dutch blanketing, 2 pieces of Irish linen, 4 dozn pr very large Pld hose…2 casks good strong beer in bottles, 2 good cheeses of abt. 20 1b. each…6 best steel garden spades, 6 broad axes, 6 large claw hammers, 6 broad chissels…2 loaves dble refined sugar, 6 lb. best Hyson tea, 6 lb. best flour mustard, a case of pickles…1 dozn breakfast cups & as many saucers of china, 1 dozen china custard cups, 10 lb. brown thread, 1 groce silverwashed coat buttons, 1 dozen fashionable pocket handk., 1 rheam good writing paper…1 groce playing cards, 1 pr dice for backgammon tables…2 prs black satin shoes, 1 pr white satin ditto, 4 pair womens fine thrd hose, 1/d dozen pr gloves, 2 french necklaces…12 pair coarse strong shoes for servts - middling large, something proper for 4 suits of summer cloths for servants - buttons and all necessary trimmings to be sent with the cloth, 1 pr neat silver spurs…
Sources:
Abbott, W., and Twohig, D. (Eds). (1995) The Papers of George Washington. Colonial Series. Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia.
An 18th Century Trades Sampler. www.history.org/history/teaching/tradsamp.cfm
Economic Aspects of Tobacco During the Colonial Period, 1612-1776.
www.tobacco.org/History/colonialtobacco.html
Valuable Tobacco Questions
Use the Valuable Tobacco notes to answer the questions below.
1. Why would people in the 1700s want to plant tobacco?
2. Why did the colonists have to buy manufactured goods from England?
3. What sort of goods did George Washington order from the merchant in England?
Pretend that you are a tobacco farmer in the 1700s. You are sending tobacco to Robert Cary in England, and you want him to send you some English goods. Write a letter to him telling him how much tobacco you are sending him, and giving him a list of goods that you want to buy from him.
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