Bacons Rebellion was the first stirring of the revolutionary sentiment in America. It began in Jamestown Virginia in 1676. It was a short rebellion between two stubborn men wanting all the power in the world, or just Jamestown. Due to economics, environmental, and social struggles the rebellion got further out of hand than it should have and did not really solve much, other than a few issues. Bacons rebellion was not truly a fight against tyranny but a dispute between two stubborn selfish leaders. Small farmers and frontiersmen were beginning to get upset with Sir William Berkley. He was putting restrictions on the right to vote, raising taxes on tobacco, a pervasive sense of subordination to an aristocratic minority “for haveing wronged his Majesties prerogative and interest” (Bacon) and the lack of protection from Native American attacks. The biggest problem of them all was the conflicts dealing with Native Americans tribes.
Berkley had worked to establish peace with the tribes and successfully negotiated a settlement reserving the lands east of the Blue Ridge Mountains for the white settlers. During the 1640’s and 1650’s the growing population began to spill over in the Indian lands west of the mountains which was a direct violation of the treaty, this led to deadly clashes between the races. Many Virginians, including many unemployed former indentured servants, thought the governor stood on the wrong side of the issue. Economic problems, “such as declining tobacco prices, growing commercial competition from Maryland and the Carolinas, an increasingly restricted English market, and the rising prices from English manufactured goods” (Loux) caused problems for the Virginians causing the tensions in Jamestown to escalate. Along with all the economic problems they were facing, weather was also an obstacle. Problems such as hailstorms, floods, dry spells, and hurricanes rocked the colony all in the course of a year and had a damaging effect on the colonist by damaging crops and making life a little bit unmanageable. Since all of these complications were occurring the colonists were at a loss, with pent up anger and frustrations, they just wanted someone to blame for all of their misfortune.
The Essay on Bacons Rebellion
THESIS: Bacon's Rebellion of 1675 is the most influential act against American Government because it provided unification amongst Americans of different races and economic status, it threatened a corrupt Colonial Government, and set a precedent for future Americans to obtain equality. TOPIC #1: Bacon's Rebellion unified different races and economic classes. TOPIC #2: Bacon's Rebellion was one of ...
It was in 1673 that Nathaniel Bacon, “a distant relative to Berkley” (Loux), emigrated from England and set up a small plantation on the James River. Due to this and other things Bacons public esteem grew rapidly and eventually was appointed to Governor’s Council. Bacons high confidence level, sense of leadership and many ideas gave him an edge up, people wanted to listen to him more than they wanted to listen to their own Governor. Since Bacon was becoming more popular with the colonists it was driving a wedge between Bacon and Berkeley as well as the people who followed them, but not only was his popularity a problem the occurring issues with the Indians were also a splitting factor. Bacon was trying to be the leader that was getting to be expected of him and come up with a solution to the problem with the Native Americans but he failed to get a promise of action from the tribes. This failure of a peaceful solution caused Bacon to get the idea that another solution was needed. He recruited a small army in 1676 and continued by conducting two attacks against the Indian tribes without Berkeleys permission.
Berkeley wasn’t in agreement with Bacons plan but the people of Jamestown, however, were, wanting a solution fast to make sure further conflict was prevented. Due to the attacks on the tribes, Bacon became even more popular with colonists and was voted into the House of Burgesses. While the House of Burgesses was deciding on what their next actions towards the Indians would be Berkley fled Jamestown and sailed across Chesapeake Bay for the Eastern Shore with a hidden agenda. Returning soon after his departure Berkley returned with a small army of his own and angrier more than ever. He claimed that Bacon was a rebel as were all of the followers beneath him. The rebels knew the government was stronger than they were, the realization resulting the rebels torching the village. Bacon died in the fall of 1676 immediately collapsing the rebellion, giving Berkeley the opportunity to gain brief control again leading him to hunt down the rebel followers of Bacon before “he was recalled back to England to defend his actions, dying soon after his arrival in the mother country, and the issue never came to hearing” (Compton 45).
The Essay on Indian Persecutions
The text we have studied relates to the integration problem between teh white and Indian population of United States : Indians are called Native-Americans because they have lived there for centuries. White Europeans arrived in the 17th century on their land during the conquest of the new territories. The confrontation of two cultures led to many problems we will discuss later but, basically, we ...
The rebellion results were a mix of good and bad outcomes. Berkeley had been temporarily removed which was all right with the colonists because he was unpopular with them all. Real progress had been made toward getting rid of the Indian threat, the tribes realized that they stood little chance against the settlers superior firepower and signed another peace treaty in 1677. The political strength of the common farmer and laborers had not improved leaving them to remain in the shadow of the Tidewater people. These plantation owning families came to realize that unemployed former indentured servants were a threat to social stability turning to the increase of the use of slaves, who were regarded as a safer source of labor and were less expansive. The rebellion accomplished what it was supposed to but not as fast as people would have liked it too, granted that it was not exactly a long rebellion with Bacon dying shortly after it started the intent was not taken care of until a year later. Nathaniel Bacon and Sir William Berkeley were never really concerned much with the matter at hand but more on the power struggle between the two of themselves. Proving that neither one of them was really fit to rule the people and were too stubborn to see that the problem shouldnt have been between them but with all the conflicts they were trying to resolve.
