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Theplanter class, also referred to as theplanter aristocracy, was aracial and socioeconomiccaste which emerged in theAmericas duringEuropean colonization in theearly modern period. Members of the caste, most of whom weresettlers of European descent, consisted of individuals who owned or were financially connected toplantations, large-scale farms devoted to the production ofcash crops in high demand across Euro-American markets. These plantations were operated by theforced labor ofenslaved people and indentured servants and typically existed insubtropical,tropical, and somewhat moretemperate climates, where the soil was fertile enough to handle the intensity of plantation agriculture. Cash crops produced on plantations owned by the planter class includedtobacco,sugarcane,cotton,indigo,coffee,tea,cocoa,sisal,oil seeds,oil palms,hemp,rubber trees, andfruits. In North America, the planter class formed part of theAmerican gentry.
As European settlers began to colonize the Americas in the 16th and 17th centuries, they quickly realized the economic potential of growing cash crops which were in high demand in Europe. Settlers began to establish plantations, the majority of which were located in theWest Indies. Initially, these plantations were operated with the labor ofindentured servants from Europe, but they were eventually supplanted by enslaved Africans brought to the Americas via theAtlantic slave trade. Colonial plantations eventually formed a key component of thetriangular trade, where by European goods were brought to Africa and exchanged for slaves, which were brought to the Americas to be sold to colonists, who used them to produce cash crops which were shipped back to Europe; most African slaves brought to the Americas were sold to the planter class, who frequently subjected them to brutal mistreatment.
Beginning in the mid-18th century, the rise ofabolitionism in Europe and the Americas led to a popular movement to abolish slavery in European colonies, which met with strong resistance from the planter class. Despite this, European nations gradually began to abolish their involvement in the slave trade and the institution of slavery itself during the late-18th and early 19th centuries. Nations in the Americas followed suit, with Brazil being the last nation to abolish slavery, in 1888. The abolition of slavery led to a rapid decline in the fortunes of the planter class, which responded by importing indentured servants from Asia. By the 20th century, the planter class ceased to be politically and socially influential in either the Americas or Europe. The exact reasons for the decline of the planter class and their role in the development ofracial capitalism remain a strong point of contention among historians.
The search for gold and silver was a constant theme in overseas expansion, but there were other European demands that the New World could also satisfy, which contributed to its growing involvement in the Western-dominated world economy. WhileSpanish America seemed to fulfill dreams of mineral wealth,Brazil became the first majorplantation colony in 1532, organized to produce a tropical crop, sugar, in great demand and short supply in Europe.[1] The other major powers of Western Europe soon hoped to establish profitable colonies of their own. Presented with new opportunities, Europeans who were disenchanted by the rigid social structures offeudalism emigrated to the abundant virginal lands of the colonial frontier.
Arriving in the late 16th and the early 17th centuries, settlers landed on the shores of an unspoiled and hostile countryside. Early planters first began as colony farmers providing for the needs of settlements besieged by famine, disease, and tribal raids. Native Americans friendly to the colonists taught them to cultivate native plant species, including tobacco and fruits, which, within a century, would become a global industry itself that funded a multinational slave trade. Colonial politics would come to be dominated by wealthy noble landowners interested in commercial development.[1] In an effort to reduce the financial burden of continental wars, European governments began institutingland pension systems by which a soldier, typically an officer, would be granted land in the colonies for services rendered. That incentivized military professionals to settle in the Americas and thus contribute to colonial defense against foreign colonists and hostile Natives.
John Rolfe, a settler fromJamestown, was the first colonist to grow tobacco in North America. He arrived in Virginia with tobacco seeds procured from an earlier voyage toTrinidad, and in 1612, he harvested his inaugural crop for sale on the European market.[2] In the 17th century, theChesapeake Bay area was immensely hospitable to tobacco cultivation. Ships annually hauled 1.5 million lb (680,000 kg) of tobacco out to the Bay by the 1630s and about 40 million lb (18 million kg) by the end of the century. Tobacco planters financed their operations with loans fromLondon. When tobacco prices dropped precipitously in the 1750s, many plantations struggled to remain financially solvent. In an effort to combat financial ruin, planters pushed to increase crop yield or, with the depletion of soil nutrients, converted to growing other crops such as cotton or wheat.
In 1720, coffee was first introduced to the West Indies by French naval officerGabriel de Clieu, who procured a coffee plant seedling from theRoyal Botanical Gardens in Paris and transported it toMartinique. He transplanted it on the slopes ofMount Pelée and was able to harvest his first crop in 1726, or shortly thereafter. Within 50 years, there were 18,000 coffee trees in Martinique, enabling the spread of coffee cultivation toSaint-Domingue,New Spain, and other islands of the Caribbean. The French territory of Saint-Domingue began cultivating coffee in 1734, and by 1788, it supplied half the global market. The French colonial plantations relied heavily on African slave laborers. However, the harsh conditions that slaves endured on coffee plantations precipitated theHaitian Revolution. Coffee had a major influence on the geography of Latin America.[3]
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An age of enlightenment dominated the world of ideas in Europe during the 18th century. Philosophers began writing pamphlets against slavery and its moral and economic justifications, includingMontesquieu inThe Spirit of the Laws (1748) andDenis Diderot in theEncyclopédie.[5] The laws governing slavery in the French West Indies, theCode Noir ofLouis XIV, granted unparalleled rights for slaves to marry, gather publicly, and abstain from work on Sundays. It forbade slave owners to torture or to separate families; though corporal punishment was sanctioned, masters who killed their slaves or falsely accused a slave of a crime and had the slave put to death would be fined. Masters openly and consistently broke theCode and passed local legislation that reversed its less desirable articles.
TheEnlightenment writerGuillaume Raynal attacked slavery in the 1780 edition of his history of European colonization. He also predicted a general slave revolt in the colonies by saying that there were signs of "the impending storm."[6] Sugar production in Saint-Domingue was sustained under especially harsh conditions, including the humid climate of the Caribbean, where diseases such asmalaria andyellow fever caused high mortality. White planters and their families, together with the merchants and shopkeepers, lived in fear of slave rebellion. Thus, in the functions of society and efforts to combat dissent, cruelty was noted in the form of overwork, inadequate food and shelter, insufficient clothing and medical care, rape, lashings, castration and burnings.
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Runaway slaves, known asMaroons, hid in the jungles away from civilization and lived off the land and what could be stolen in violent raids on the island's sugar and coffee plantations. Although the numbers in the bands grew large (sometimes into the thousands), they generally lacked the leadership and strategy to accomplish large-scale objectives. In April 1791, a massive slave insurgency rose violently against the plantation system, setting a precedent of resistance to slavery.[citation needed] In 1793,George Washington, owner of theMount Vernon plantation, signed into law the firstFugitive Slave Act, guaranteeing a right for a slave master to recover an escaped slave.[7]
On 4 February 1794, during theFrench Revolution, the National Assembly of the First Republic abolished slavery in France and its colonies. The military successes of the French Republic and ofNapoleon Bonaparte carried across Europe the ideals of egalitarianism and brought into question the practice of slavery in the colonies of other European powers. In Britain, a fledgling abolitionist movement received a major boost after the 1772Somerset v Stewart court case, which affirmed that Englishcommon law did not uphold the legality of slavery. Eleven years later in 1783, a group of Britons, many of themQuakers, founded an abolitionist organisation inLondon.[8]William Wilberforce led the cause of abolition through his campaign in theParliament of Great Britain. His efforts finally abolished the slave trade in the British Empire with the1807 Slave Trade Act. He continued to campaign for the abolition of slavery in the British Empire, which he did not see, with the1833 Slavery Abolition Act receiving Royal Assent the week after his death, in July 1833.[9]
A plantation house served to group the owner's family, guests, and house slaves within one large structure in a central location on the estate. Often starting as a modest abode, the house was enlarged or replaced with a newer, more impressive home as the planter's wealth grew. Commonly seen is the addition of massiveGreek Revival columns, curved stairs, semi-detached wings, and other architectural elements popular at the time.
The French origins of planters in Canada, Louisiana, and Saint-Domingue heavily influenced the development ofFrench colonial architecture, characterized by its wide hipped roofs extending over wraparound porches, thin wooden columns, and living quarters raised above ground level. Learning building practices from the West Indies, colonists designed practical dwellings for a territory prone to flooding. A notable loss of plantation homes in Louisiana is attributed to an economic shift from agriculture to industry during theReconstruction era.
Georgian architecture was widely disseminated in theThirteen Colonies during theGeorgian era. American buildings of the Georgian period were very often constructed of wood with clapboards; even columns were made of timber, framed up, and turned on an oversized lathe. At the start of the period, the difficulties of obtaining and transporting brick or stone made them a common alternative only in the larger cities or where they were obtainable locally. A premier example of Georgian planter architecture isWestover Plantation, built in the mid-18th century as the residence ofWilliam Byrd III, the son of the founder of theRichmond, Virginia. An elaborate doorway, which is recognized as "the Westover doorway," adorns the main entrance and contrasts an otherwise simple construction.[10][11]
During the American Civil War, the house served as the headquarters of Union GeneralFitz John Porter, the protégé ofGeorge McClellan, who was stationed at nearbyBerkeley Plantation, and purportedly had its east wing struck by a Confederate cannonball fired from the south side of theJames River. The wing caught fire and lay in ruin until Mrs. Clarise Sears Ramsey, aByrd descendant, purchased the property in 1899. She was instrumental in modernizing the house, rebuilding the east wing, and adding hyphens to connect the main house to the previously separate dependencies, thereby creating one long building.[10]
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Introduced to the continent byGeorge Berkeley in the 1720s,Palladian architecture became popular with American society in the construction of colleges and public buildings, while many houses too were built in the Jefferson Palladian style ofMonticello.Andrea Palladio developed Palladianism in the 16th century, publishing in 1570Quattro Libri, a treatise on architecture in four volumes and illustrated with woodcuts after Palladio's own drawings.[12]
Covered and columned porches feature prominently in Palladian architecture, in many cases dominating the main facade. Red brick exteriors and either slanted or domed roofs are commonplace among residential buildings. Monticello, residence of US PresidentThomas Jefferson, was built in a style unique to him that has been emulated in the construction of many colleges, such asthe Rotunda of theUniversity of Virginia, as well as churches, courthouses, concert halls, and military schools.
