To counter this, a series of acts were passed which legally established the rights of white labor, but they did nothing to improve the status of the African.

In fact, their passage pushed them relentlessly towards the status of slave.
The price of tobacco declined sharply in the 1660s and drove the small white farmer to the wall.

Only those with enough capital to engage in large-scale operations could continue to make a profit.

In order to fill the need for the huge labor supply required large-scale agriculture, the colonial legislature passed laws giving legal justification to slavery.
At the same time, Charles II granted a royal charter establishing a company to transport African slaves across the ocean and thereby increasing the supply of slaves available to the colonial planter.
Until this time, the number of Africans in the colony had been very small, but thereafter their numbers grew rapidly.

The African slaves provided the large, dependable, and permanent supply of labor which these plantations required.