c 



importers and factors. "These debts," Jefferson com- 

 mented, 



had become hereditary from father to son, for 

 many generations, so that the planters were a 

 species of property, annexed to certain mercan- 

 tile houses of London. 

 About 2 million pounds sterling was then owing by 

 Virginia planters. The Treaty of Paris allowed collection 

 of these debts and a number of consequent law-suits 

 brought ruin to wealthy Virginians. The situation aroused 

 the interest of Congress and resulted in a special con- 

 vention which, in 1802, fully setded for £600,000 all 

 debts owing by Virginia planters to British merchants. 



ompetition brings changes 



After the War of Independence, Virginia resumed her 

 activities as a major leaf supplier to the Western world, 

 despite some serious interruptions, among them the War 

 of 1812 and the Napoleonic Wars. Disturbing competi- 

 tion arose when European farmers turned to production 

 of tobacco during the American war. The most important 

 competition to Virginia was, however, not foreign. It 

 came from new tobacco farms opening up rapidly in the 

 virgin soils of Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and else- 

 where in western areas. 



The use of snuff had diminished in the latter part of 

 the 18th and the early 19th centuries. Smokers were ex- 

 pressing a marked preference for a lighter and brighter 

 leaf for their pipes. Virginia planters adjusted themselves 

 to the trend by learning how to cure leaf to an attractive 



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