As we saw, however, Virginia made other attempts to stimulate supply, which reveals how much demand actually existed. In 1659, the council enacted a subsidy in the form of tax breaks for ships delivering slaves. The act allowed a fat 80 percent off taxes for exports of tobacco to foreign nations if the ships of those foreign nations would first bring black slaves to Virginia ports. This was originally passed with an eye to tapping burgeoning supplies of slaves in Dutch West African factories.
