Headright

=Headright=

= = =What is a Headright?=

toc A headright is a legal grant of land. it is usually used when a country is trying to get settlers to move to a new area of land. The headright system is most known from when England was trying to get citizens to move to Jamestown,Virgina ========

Why England used the headright system
When England first founded Jamestown they had a lot of land and not a lot of people because not many people were moving there because it was hard to live in Jamestown. This is why England started giving people land to move there. Britain wanted people there for two reasons.One they wanted to expand their country, two they wanted to grow lots of tobacco because it was so valuable. Also the Queen knew that there were lots of people that needed jobs but could not find them.

How it worked
The headright system encouraged wealthy people to pay for poor people to come to Jamestown because they would receive 50 acres per head they brought with them. In return they would work their land for 5-7 years, these people were called indentured servants. When they finished their service they did not get right to any land, but the were given clothing and tools. They were then supposed to go and make their home in unexplored land. There they were supposed to grow crops like tobacco and corn. This gave England more land and gave indentured servants a very good life.

The headright system did not give rich people free land even though they got 50 acres per person they brought over with them. The reason they did not is because tickets were very expensive, they were around 6 pounds. There were also lots of flauds in the headright system because people would by tickets for people that were not moving to Jamestown. This would give some people too much land.

Landowners also imported slaves as well as indentured servants. Landowners also got 50 acres per slave they imported or bought from ship captains. George Menefie was the first person to obtain a lot of land from slaves and indentured servants. He got a total of 1,150 acres from 23 slaves and 37 indentured servants.

Eventually land value went down and people could by 100 acres for 3 pounds. This happened because immigrants were getting harder and harder to attract to Jamestown.

Why it stopped
The headright eventually stopped because there was already enough people to run the city. The citizens of Jamestown moved across the 13 colonies to find a better place to live. This made Jamestown fall apart. Jamestown,VA is now a historical land market because it was the first successful city in America.

Refrences
Acquiring Virginia land by headright/ September 27,2003/October 27,2008 / http://www.virginiaplaces.org/settleland/headright.html

Headright/Wikipedia/October 8,2008/ September 27,2008/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headright_system

The Headright System/September 27,2008/ http://www.fratfiles.com/essays/86465.html

Garraty,John The Story of America New York, Orlando, Chicago, Atlanta, San Fransisco, Boston, Dallas, Toronto, London Holt, Rinehart, and Winston 1991 and 1994