A headright refers to a legal grant of land given to settlers during the period of European colonization in the Americas.
Early colonists of Jamestown were employees of the Virginia Company and were responsible for the production and profit of the colony.
[2] A disproportion between the amount of land available and the population led to a low supply of labor, resulting in the growth of indentured servitude and slavery.
[2] The headright system began in the colony of Jamestown in 1618[3] as an attempt to solve labor shortages due to the advent of the tobacco economy,[4] which required large plots of land with many workers.
Headrights were given to heads-of-households, and because 50 acres were accumulated for each member of the household, families had an incentive to make the passage to the colonies together.
[5] Although the Headright System increased the population of colonies like Virginia, it also contributed to the expansion of indentured servitude, the lower class, and slavery.
First, the governor or local county court had to provide a certificate that certified the validity of the importation of a person.
[9] This system led to the development of indentured servitude where poor individuals would become workers for a specified number of years and provide labor in order to repay the landowners who had sponsored their transportation to the colonies.
Many families grew in power in the colonies by receiving large tracts of land when they imported slaves.
[11] In 1699, it was decided that headrights would only be granted to free citizens and that transporting indentured laborers or slaves would no longer a guarantor of land.
If this large discrepancy must be attributed to more than fictitious issuing, a final explanation suggests that people had accumulated and saved headrights.