Virginia Tobacco Prices and Exports, 1615-1789

A complete and accurate price table would be virtually impossible to compile. Some of these averages represent only single individual quotations, or the average of only two or three such quotations. These charts are intended to give the reader a general picture of the prices during the Colonial period.

YearAverage
Price
per Lb.		Average
Price
per Cwt.		Pounds
Exported
16153s 2,300
16173s 20,000
16183s 41,000
16193s 44,879
16202s6d 40,000
16213s 55,000
16223s 60,000
16232s
16252s4d
16263s 500,000
16283s6d 500,000
16293s 1,500,000
1630 1d 1,500,000
1631 6d 1,300,000
1632 6d
1633 9d
1634 1d
1637 9d
1638 2d
1639 3d 1,500,000
1640 12d 1,300,000
1641 2d 1,300,000
1642 2d
1644 1-1/2d
1645 1-1/2d
1649 3d
1651 16s
1652 20s
1655 2d
1656 2d
1657 3d
1658 2d
1659 2d
1660 2d
1661 2d
1662 2d
1664 1-1/2d
1665 1d
1666 1-1/5d
1667 1/2d
1669 20s
1676 1-1/2d
1682 1-1/5d
1683 2d
1684 1/2d
1685 2-1/2d
1686 1-1/5d
1688 18,295,000
1690 1d
1691 2d
1692 1d
1695 1-1/2d
1696 1-1/5d
1697 1/2d 22,000,000
1698 20s 22,000,000
1699 20s 22,000,000
1700 10s average
1701 average
1702 20s
1704 2d 18,000,000
1706 1/4d
1709 1d 29,000,000
1710 1d
1713 3s
1715 2s
1716 11s
1720 1d
1722 3/4d
1723 1d
1724 1-1/2d
1727 9d
1729 10d
1731 12s6d34,000,000
1732 9d 34,000,000
1733 2d 34,000,000
1736 2d 34,000,000
1737 9d average
1738 3d average
1739 2d average
1740 34,000,000
1744 2d 47,000,000
1745 14s 38,232,900
1746 2d 36,217,800
1747 37,623,600
1748 16s 8d 42,104,700
1749 2d 43,880,300
1750 15s 43,710,300
1751 16s 43,032,700
1752 2d 43,542,000
1753 20s 53,862,300
1754 45,722,700
1755 2d 42,918,300
1756 20s 25,606,800
1757 3d
1758 3d 22,050,000
1759 35s 55,000,000
1760 55,000,000
1761 22s 6d 55,000,000
1762 11d 55,000,000
1763 2d 55,000,000
1764 12s 6d 55,000,000
1765 3d 55,000,000
17664s average
17673s10d average
1768 22s6daverage
1769 23s average
1770 25s average
1771 18s average
1772 20s average
1773 12s6daverage
1774 13s average
1775 3-1/4d 55,000,000
1776 12s 14,498,500
1777 34s 12,441,214
1778 70s 11,961,333
1779 400s 17,155,907
1780 1,000s 17,424,967
1781 2,000s 13,339,168
1782 36s 9,828,244
1783 40s 86,649,333
1784 30s10d49,497,000
1785 30s 55,624,000
1786 19d 60,380,000
1787 15d 60,041,000
1788 25s 58,544,000
1789 15d 58,673,000

Conclusion

The history of tobacco is the history of Jamestown and of Virginia. No one staple or resource ever played a more significant role in the history of any state or nation. The growth of the Virginia Colony, as it extended beyond the limits of Jamestown, was governed and hastened by the quest for additional virgin soil in which to grow this "golden weed." For years the extension into the interior meant the expansion of tobacco production. Without tobacco the development of Virginia might have been retarded 200 years.

Tobacco was the life and soul of the colony; yet a primitive, but significant, form of diversified farming existed from the very beginning especially among the small farmers. Even with the development of the large plantations in the eighteenth century, there were quite a number of small landowners interspersed among the big planters in the Tidewater area, and they were most numerous in the Piedmont section. They usually possessed few slaves, if any, and raised mostly grains, vegetables and stock which they could easily sell to neighboring tobacco planters. The negligible food imports by the colony indicates that a regular system of farming existed. Nor was tobacco the sole product of the large tobacco plantations. This is indicated by the fact that practically all of the accounts of the product of one man's labor were recorded as so many pounds or acres of tobacco plus provisions. And had the plantations not been generally self-sufficient, the frequently extremely low prevailing tobacco prices would have made the agricultural economy even less profitable.

Tobacco was a completely new agricultural product to most, if not all, of the English settlers at Jamestown. There were no centuries of vast experience in growing, curing, and marketing to draw upon. These problems and procedures were worked out by trial and error in the wilderness of Virginia. Tobacco became the only dependable export and the colony was exploited for the benefit of English commerce. This English commercial policy, plus other factors, caused the Virginia planter to become somewhat of an agricultural spendthrift. For nearly 200 years he followed a system of farming which soon exhausted his land. Land was cheap and means of fertilization was limited and laborious. By clearing away the trees he was able to move north, south, southwest, and west and replace his worn-out fields with rich virgin soil necessary to grow the best tobacco.

While struggling with the problems involved in producing an entirely new crop about which they knew little or nothing, the colonists also had to feed themselves, deal with their racial problems, and maintain a stable local government as they continually expanded in a limitless wilderness. Out of all this chaos grew the mother and leader of the American colonies.

Tobacco penetrated the social, political, and economic life of the colony. Ownership of a large tobacco plantation could take one up the social ladder; many of the men responsible for the welfare of the colony were planters, and everything could be paid for in tobacco. In 1620 the indentured servants were paid for with tobacco, the young women sent to the colonists to become wives were purchased by paying their transportation charges with tobacco. The wages of soldiers and the salaries of clergymen and governmental officials were paid in tobacco. After 1730 tobacco notes, that is warehouse receipts, representing a certain amount of money, served as currency for the colony.

The development of the inspection system with its chain of tobacco warehouses hastened urbanization. Around many of these warehouses grew villages and settlements; some of these eventually became towns and cities. Richmond, Petersburg, Danville, Fredericksburg, Farmville, Clarksville and others were once merely convenient landings or locations for tobacco warehouses. Even today the fragrant aroma of cured tobacco still exists in a number of these places during the tobacco marketing season. The tobacco trade was largely responsible for the birth and growth of Alexandria, Dumfries, and Norfolk into important export-import centers. For her birth, growth, and colonial leadership, Virginia pays her respect to John Rolfe and the other brave settlers at Jamestown.