hy was it that twenty years later, although prices were still far below
the old level, they could flood the markets of the world?

The answer can be summed up in one word--slavery. The first cargo of
negroes arrived in the colony in 1619 upon a Dutch privateer. Presumably
they were landed at Jamestown, and sold there to the planters.[7-24] The
vessel which won fame for itself by this ill-starred action, was sailing
under letters of marque from the Prince of Orange and had been scouring
the seas in search of Spanish prizes. Although the Dutch master could
have had no information that slaves were wanted in the colony, he seems
to have taken it for granted that he would not be forbidden to dispose
of his human freight.

The introduction of this handful of negroes--there were but twenty in
all--was not the real beginning of the slave system in the colonies. For
many years the institution which was to play so sinister a part in
American history did not flourish, and the slaves grew in numbers but
slowly. In the Muster Roll of Settlers in Virginia, taken in 1624, there
were listed only 22 negroes.[7-25] Sixteen years later the black
population probably did not exceed 150.[7-26] In 1649, when Virginia was
growing rapidly and the whites numbered 15,000, there were but 300
negroes in the colony.[7-27] A sporadic importation of slaves continued
during the Commonwealth period, but still the number was insignificant,
still the bulk of the labor in the tobacco fields was done by indentured
servants and poor freeholders.

In 1670 Governor Berkeley reported to the Board of Trade that out of a
total population of 40,000, but five per cent were slaves.[7-28] Eleven
years later the number of blacks was estimated at 3,000.[7-29] In 1635
twenty-six negroes were brought in, the largest purchaser being Charles
Harmar.[7-30] In 1636 the importations were but seven, in 1637 they
were 28, in 1638 thirty, in 1639 forty-six, in 1642 seven only, in 1643
eighteen, in 1649 seventeen.[7-31] But with the passage of the years
somewhat larger cargoes began to arrive. In 1662 Richard Lee claimed
among his headrights no less than 80 negroes, in 1665 the Scarboroughs
imported thirty-nine. In 1670, however, Berkeley declared that "not
above two or three ships of Negroes" had arrived in the province in the
previous seven years.[7-32]

It is evident, then, that during the larger part of the Seventeenth
century slavery played but an unimportant role in the