Virginia tobacco, consigned to him from England in 1638. 



Importations of "foreign" tobacco became so consider- 

 able that in 1640 it was enacted by the General Court 

 at New Haven that, after September 1641 



no persons within this jurisdiction shall 

 [smoke] any other Tobacco but such as is or 

 shall be planted within these [districts], ex- 

 cept they have license from the Courte. 



Tobacco brought in from outside the colony was to be 

 licensed by the court. A fine was set for violators who 

 made the mistake of being caught. The stern authors of 

 the law may well have thought that it would curb the 

 use of local tobacco on the theory that no one really 

 liked it. 



The result of the regulation was an increase in tobacco 

 production. With so much leaf available in the small 

 communities everyone felt duty bound to keep his pipe 

 lit. Thereupon the watchful General Court repealed the 

 law in 1646 and tried a new tactic the year following. 

 No one was going to charge them with indifference to 

 community welfare. 



w. 



hat the doctor ordered 



The new law required that 



No person under the age of twenty years, nor 

 any other that hath not already accustomed 

 himself to the use thereof, sJmll take any 

 tobacko, until he hath brought a certificate 

 under the hands of [a physician] that it is use- 

 full for him, and also, that he hath received a 

 license from the court for the same . . . None 



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