Communism aswell as anti-communism, socialism and liberalism, feminism and sexism,racism and antiracism, pacifism and militarism, are examples of wide-spread ideologies â which may be more or less positive or negative de-pending on our point of view or group membership.
Tobacco was the American colonies' chief export. The Jamestown colonists had not found gold, nor a route to the South Seas, nor the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island. But they had found tobacco. Tobacco had brought the settlement from wretched failure to giddying success.
The growth of tobacco as a cash crop led to prosperity â but prosperity came with a heavy cost. The demand for tobacco quickly fueled the demand for a cheap labor force. Virtual Jamestown presents this page of 17th-century statutes related to indentured servants.