gave him a certain self-esteem. Smyth spoke of the
middle class as generous, friendly and hospitable in the extreme, but
possessing a rudeness and haughtiness which was the result of their
"general intercourse with slaves."[8-52] Beverley described them as
haughty and jealous of their liberties, and so impatient of restraint
that they could hardly bear the thought of being controlled by any
superior power. Hugh Jones, Anbury, Fithian and other Eighteenth century
writers all confirm this testimony.

Despite the persistence of the small slave holder it is obvious that
there were certain forces at work tending to increase the number of
well-to-do and wealthy planters. Now that the labor problem, which in
the Seventeenth century had proved so perplexing, had finally been
solved, there was no limit to the riches that might be acquired by
business acumen, industry and good management. And as in the modern
industrial world the large corporation has many advantages over the
smaller firms, so in colonial Virginia the most economical way of
producing tobacco was upon the large plantations.

The wealthy man had the advantage of buying and selling in bulk, he
enjoyed excellent credit and could thus often afford to withhold his
crop from the market when prices were momentarily unfavorable, he could
secure the best agricultural instruments. Most important of all,
however, was the fact that he could utilize the resources of his
plantation for the production of crude manufactured supplies, thus to a
certain extent freeing himself from dependence upon British imports and
keeping his slaves at work during all seasons of the year. Before the
Eighteenth century had reached its fifth decade every large plantation
had become to a remarkable degree self-sustaining. Each numbered among
its working force various kinds of mechanics--coopers, blacksmiths,
tanners, carpenters, shoemakers, distillers. These men could be set to
work whenever the claims of the tobacco crop upon their time were not
imperative producing many of the coarser articles required upon the
plantation, articles which the poor farmer had to import from England.
For this work white men were at first almost universally made use of,
but in time their places were taken by slaves. "Several of them are
taught to be sawyers, carpenters, smiths, coopers, &c.," says the
historian Hugh Jones, "though for the most part they be none of the
aptest or nicest."[8-53]

The carpenter was kep