Virginia’s Act III: Baptism Does Not Exempt Slaves from Bondage

Questions for Further Study

• 1.: In what specific ways did agriculture in the Virginia Colony contribute to the development of the slave system and the social system that supported it?
• 2.: In its early years, the Virginia Colony was marked by dissension, mismanagement, and other assorted ills. Using this document in conjunction with John Rolfe’s Letter to Sir Edwin Sandys, outline the problems Virginia faced and how the authorities tried to solve them.
• 3.: What social circumstances involving indentured servants, Indians, and slaves in early Virginia led to Virginia’s Act III: Baptism Does Not Exempt Slaves from Bondage?
• 4.: What factors entered into the Virginia House of Burgesses’ deliberations about the relationship between bondage and conversion to Christianity?