A tobacco glut depression forced colonial planters to seek a new staple

Evidence

Between 1624 and 1634, tobacco became the main staple of the colonies, earning in that period profits that attracted more and more English and French planters to it. By the end of this period, a glut of tobacco had hit the market and prices declined. The resultant long depression of the late 1630s and early 1640s compelled the search for a new staple, despite the lingering expectations that tobacco would recover. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 588