Shirley’s plantation sold which product?

• A. Cotton
• B. Tobacco
• C. Sugar
• D. Indigo

Answer: (B)

Understanding why tobacco is the answer involves recognizing which crop powered plantation economies in the Chesapeake region during the colonial era. Tobacco was the dominant cash crop in Virginia and Maryland, driving export trade and shaping the labor system on plantations. If Shirley’s plantation is described as selling a primary export crop typical of that region and period, tobacco fits this pattern best. Cotton became the major cash crop later, after the cotton gin boosted profitability in the late 18th to early 19th centuries, so it wouldn’t be the typical product for an earlier colonial plantation. Sugar is closely associated with Caribbean plantations that had different climates and milling requirements, while indigo appeared in some Southern colonies but did not dominate the Chesapeake economy like tobacco did.