Post 4: Life Writing

Maryland: The Tobacco Uprising

In "On Her Own." In Mistress of Riverdale: The Plantation Letters of Rosalie Stier Calvert, Rosalie describes her experience on a plantation in Riversdale through a series of letters to her family. Her letters discuss one of the most prominent products of the time-tobacco. The use of tobacco and its industry was a part of the 16^th and 17^th century that Rosalie mentions through her personal experience, but excludes the historical context of its use. In “The Lure of Sotweed: Tobacco and Maryland History”, Dr. Henry Miller discusses the history behind the emergence of tobacco in Maryland and its reasons. As more people began to experience the pleasurable effects of smoking, they also believed that smoking offered health benefits. English and Dutch merchants then began international trade in Chesapeake tobacco as a result of its increase in demand. Tobacco was exported to parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia, and tobacco became a significant aspect of the global economy. Preparation for the land to grow tobacco was a long process and slaves formed the soil into small hills and planted the seeds there. Due to the high demand, workers were expected to tend about 10,000 tobacco plants by the 1680s and work long hours throughout the summer months in the heat. After months, workers would cut the plants, carry them to barns, and hand the tobacco to air cure. [1]

In a letter from George Calvert to H.J Stier, he mentions how him and Rosalie cannot pay him a visit due to their lack of production that season. He mentions the term “hogsheads” in the letter and states, “I am preparing for making one hundred Hogs next year. If the season is favorable I ought to make that quantity; the last was one of the worst ever known and I shall make fifty”. Knowing the historical background of the tobacco production in Maryland and its process is helpful in understanding the context of the letters and the circumstances of the time period.

1) Henry Miller, The Lure of Sotweed: Tobacco and Maryland History (Historic St. Mary’s City: 1-3.

Works Cited

Callcott, Margaret Law, ed. "On Her Own." In Mistress of Riverdale:

The Plantation Letters of Rosalie Stier Calvert, 1795-1821.

Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991. 47-73.