A History of the American People

apart from the fact that, from 1640, the Long Parliament in England systematically demolished
what was left of the feudal system.
The principal investors in the colony, called Adventurers,' who had to provide their own transport out plus fiveable men' between twenty and fifty, got 2,000 acres each. Anyone
bringing less than five men got roc, acres, plus a further 100 for each man beside himself.
Married settlers got 200 acres plus 100 for each servant.' Each child under sixteen got 50. Widows with children got the same grants as the men, and unmarried women with servants got 50 acres for each. The land was freehold but owners had to pay Baltimore a 'quitrent'-20 shilling for a manor, 12 pence for a 50-acre tract, payablein the commodity of the country' and due
annually for fifty years. If a man wanted to come and could not afford the voyage, he could
travel free in return for a four- to five-year indenture of service. He made it with the captain, who
sold it on landing to any bidder. The indenture bound the master to furnish transport, meat, Drinke, Apparel and Lodging' during the term and, on completion, to supply clothes, a year's provision of corn, and 50 acres. Skilled men earned their freedom earlier. The actual apportioning of land proceeded swiftly-something Americans learned to do well very early in their history, and which was for 300 years one of their greatest strengths. A settler went to the secretary of the province, recorded his entitlement, and requested a grant of land. The secretary then presented a Warrant of Survey to the surveyor-general, who found and surveyed an appropriate tract. When he reported, the secretary issued a patent, which described the reasons for the grant, the boundaries and the conditions of tenure. The owner then occupied the land and began farming. Compared to the difficulties of acquiring land in England, even for ready money, it was amazingly simple. The farming went well from the start. The land produced a surplus the very first year and a load of grain was dispatched to Massachusetts for cash. But most farmers quickly went into tobacco, and stayed there. By the mid-1630s, tobacco prices, after a sellers' market in the 1620s, then a glut, had stabilized at about 4 to 6 shillings a pound. The Maryland settlers planted on creeks and rivers on the western shore, with wharves to receive annual tobacco-export ships. They killed trees by 'girdling'-cutting a ring round the base-then planted. By 1639 the Maryland planters were producing 100,000 pounds of the 'sotte weed.' Tobacco planting was never easy. It requireda great deal of trouble in the right management of it.' It was expert, labor-intensive, and
tricky at all times. A plant had to be topped,' using the thumbnail. You could always tell a 17th- century tobacco farmer by his hard, green-stained thumb. Everyone worked hard, at any rate in those early days. The laborers and indentured servants did a twelve- to fourteen-hour day, with Saturday afternoon free and Sunday. They could be transferred by sale and corporally punished, and if they ran away they were punished by longer terms of service. They could not marry until their contract expired. In any case, men outnumbered women by two or three to one. There were lots of bastards and heavily pregnant brides-twice as many as in England. Housing was poor:The dwellings are so wretchedly constructed that even if you are close to
the fire as almost to burn yourself, you cannot keep warm and the wind blows through them
everywhere." That was in the winter. The problem in summer was malaria. The more settlers
who arrived, the more the mosquitoes bred. Those who got it were peculiarly susceptible to
smallpox, diphtheria, and yellow fever. Amebic dysentery, known as Gripes of the Gutts, was
endemic. Maryland was noticeably less healthy than New England, where a male who survived
to twenty lived generally to around sixty-five. In Maryland it was more like forty-three. About
70 percent died before fifty; only 6 percent of fathers lived to see their offspring mature. And
half the children died before twenty. Wives worked very hard, in the tobacco fields, as well as by