Answer:
a. They contributed to the increasing reliance of Virginia and Maryland on african slave labor.
Explanation:
The Virginia colony was founded in 1607. Â Maryland colony was founded in 1632. Â A plantation-based economy developed in both of those colonies, with tobacco as the main cash crop. Â Initially they relied on indentured servants coming over from England to supply their labor needs. Â An indentured servant is someone in a position of poverty who binds himself to an employer for a fixed period of time, sometimes to pay off debts owed. Â With opportunities like the cheap land William Penn offered in the Pennsylvania colony (founded 1681), poorer settlers coming to America had an option other than indentured servitude. Â The economic conditions in England also had improved for many, so there were simply less laborers available willing to bind themselves to indentured servant contracts. Â Â Penn's establishment of religious toleration in Pennsylvania also drew many other non-traditional religious types (not just Quakers) to his colony. Â
With the supply of cheap labor drying up for the Virginia and Maryland colonies, they began to turn more to the slaves from Africa as a labor source for their plantation economies.