Previous to the American Revolution, Bacon’s Rebellion was one of the largest revolts in history, and accordingly its consequences include the American Revolution. It was the war between the English and the Indians, and the civil war between the colonists of Jamestown and their government. But it was also the fierce struggle between two powerful leaders with very different beliefs. The African slaves and white indentured servants joined together to fight side by side against their common "enemies." Sir William Berkeley arrived in Virginia in 1642 to act as the Colonial Governor of Virginia. He was the King’s envoy in Virginia, though he was a selfish royalist who believed in himself before the King. He brought together some …show more content…
Because the low-grade tobacco was being overproduced unceasingly, prices dropped over the years. Tobacco had been the colony’s sole way of income for many years. Berkeley attempted to improve conditions by introducing other industries and building new towns in several places. Unfortunately, the towns could not be maintained and other attempts only resulted in dissatisfaction and increased taxes. Taxes were also increased due to a need for defense against the Dutch and the Indians. The rising price of English manufactured goods and the increasingly limited English market created more problems for the Virginians. From the terrifying tales of Native American attacks, Virginians learned to fear the Native Americans. They pleaded to the governor for protection from the Native Americans, but Berkeley refused to listen to their tales of Indians committing murders and thieving. It seemed to be that the Indians were the ones receiving protection from Berkeley. The Governor and his “grandees” were controlling the Indian beaver and otter fur trades, so he didn’t want to lose the profit he was making off of his business of trade with the Indians. Many white indentured servants were not happy with the Indians who had ownership rights of land, when they needed to find land to buy when their time serving was completed. The attack of the Doeg Indians on the plantation of Thomas Matthews in the summer of 1675 was equivalent to the starting of a forest fire. The Doeg
With the immense frustration and anger among the colonists, they began to scapegoat the local Indians. To ward off future attacks and to control the situation, Governor Berkeley instigated the matter. He set up what was to be a disastrous meeting between the parties, which resulted in the murders of several tribal chiefs. In the meantime, Berkeley continually pleaded for restraint from the colonists. Some, including Nathaniel Bacon, refused to listen. Bacon disregarded the Governor's direct orders by seizing some friendly Appomattox Indians for “stealing” corn. Berkeley scolded him, which caused the disgruntled Virginians to wonder which man had taken the right action. Significantly, Berkeley could not compromise earning resentment from about 1,000 Virginians. They fiercely resented Governor Berkeley for his policies toward the Indians. When Berkeley refused to retaliate for a series of savage Indians on frontier settlements after monopolization of fur trade, the
Berkeley did not care about the farmers. It was obvious that the only thing he
The presence of certain motifs throughout history, and the plight that they can cause, was as instrumental to the formation of this country as the historical landmarks and monumental documents that attract hundred of tourists to the state capital yearly. One such motif, that of dispute of debate, is at the pinnacle of all greatly progressive epochs; discussion propagates change, and though this change is generally for the better, there are some instances where this historical strategy is used quite vindictively. Such is the case for the feud between Mr. Nathaniel Bacon and Governor William Berkeley. The battle began when Bacon made a radical declaration against Berkeley, accusing him of all forms of larceny and treason. Unsurprisingly, Berkeley responded to these claims with extreme hostility, intent on both defending his actions and attacking Bacon for his.
The Virginia colony was experiencing economic problems, such as declining tobacco prices, growing commercial competition from Maryland and the Carolinas, a restricted English market, the rising prices from English manufactured goods, and disturbances made by the Indians. There were also English losses in the series of naval wars with the Dutch and there were numerous problems caused by weather. Storms and dry spells plagued the colony and had a damaging effect on the colonists which encouraged the colonists to find people they could vent their frustrations and place the blame for their misfortunes.
Countless social and economical problems arise throughout 1676 in Virginia. Farmer Nathaniel Bacon promoted concerns about the numerous Indian assaults and the necessity for land; farmers needed economic independence as well as former indentured servants. This revolution was well-known as “Bacon’s Rebellion”. After numerous unsuccessful attempts to fight with the local government, directed by Royal Governor William Berkeley, to strike back against the Indians, Nathaniel Bacon led his revolution by accusing Berkeley and his associates for wrongdoing that went in opposition to the consent of its people. In return, Berkeley addressed Bacon’s objections, by doing an effort to justify his actions and turn down his demands.
Before Bacon arrived in 1674, frontier families were just barely getting by. The weather was bad leading to less crop harvest and taxes were high. The colonists grew angry with the government, saying the neighboring Indians should be removed (“Saint or Sinner?”). The colonists at once take the reins and form an army. However, Gov. Berkeley says they must not have a commander, or go against the Indians (“First American Rebel”). Bacon arrives in North America at just the perfect time, in his eyes.
Bacon's rebellion was led by a group of former indentured servants who were now free, without
Bacon's Rebellion is probably the best example of what the rich and powerful were afraid of in a sense poor whites and poor blacks fighting as one it was this fear that caused the rich and powerful to invent laws to prevent this sort of thing from happening again. Bacons Rebellion began the English settlers started inland to the west, which meant moving into the natives land. this was sure to cause tension between the two sides another main factor to the rebellion was the dry summer that was causing crops to wither and die. Bacon was elected to the House of Burgesses and his radical views about Indians lead to him being put in prison. when two thousand Virginians marched upon the prison bacon was released. shortly after this bacon took his
Jamestown was struggling until John Smith took over and with the help of the Powhatan Confederacy, the colonists had food to eat and a study place to live. John Rolfe married the daughter of Wahunsonacock, Pocahontas, resulting in a more peaceful relationship between the Indians but it didn’t last long.The headright system motivated immigrants to come to Virginia because they earned 50 acres plus 50 more acres for every person they brought. Most indentured servants died before they finished working their way into America resulting in Nathaniel Bacon’s Bacon Rebellion. Puritans wanted to go back to their old ways and reform the Church of England but the sect of Puritans called the Separatists took it a step further by separating completely.
To figure out the cause and to prevent the Indians’ raids on the Virginia Colony, Berkeley demanded an investigation of the matter. The investigation included Berkeley’s attempt to have a civilized meeting between all of the local Indian tribes and the colonists. This meeting lead to the killing of many tribal chiefs. Berkeley was disgusted with the way things were beginning to turn
According to Zinn, inequality was the root of Bacon’s Rebellion. Zinn believed that there should be equality among all people, which showed that he is a Marxist. Many years after the colonization of Virginia, Bacon’s Rebellion started with the fear of attacks from the Indians, like Schweikart described. However, their views clashed when Zinn added that Bacon’s Rebellion was joined by slaves and servants with resentment against the rich whites. Class division was defined as colonies grew, forming a line between the rich and poor. During the eighteenth century, the colonies’ profits only benefited the upper class that held most of the political power with monopolization over trade and land. Furthermore, Zinn described that the indentured servants
The elderly Berkeley had some secret scheme in mind, having governing Virginia since 1641, he wanted to maintain an alliances relationship with friendly neighboring Natives tribes and uses them as the buffers while fighting the Susquehannocks war, and in fact maintaining his fur trade monopoly. On the other side, Bacon and his followers, the discontented Virginians blamed the Natives, friendly or not, for all their problems. Theirs viewed of the Susquehannocks war as an opportunity to solve all their problems at once, for good.
Nathaniel Bacon is notorious for his rebellion in this story, and is seen as the one who stepped out of line when he rebelled against Berkley. However, Bacon could be seen as the one who saved many Virginian’s from a dictator that who was only looking out for himself and took almost complete control of the government in Virginia. If he would have never rebelled the colony of Virginia would have kept being strip of their rights to vote. The fact that Berkley controlled most of the Virginia government is corrupt. Even though the American government wasn’t around yet, the colonies were still a place of freedom. People had the right to choose some of their representatives, but still couldn’t get rid of the governor who took advantage of his position to gain a lot of wealth
Derived from the French word essai, the word essay means the action or process of trying to test. Looking back through history, a man name Francis Bacon was the first person to write The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon: Of The Profiecience and Advancement of Learning, Divine and Humane, an essay, with the first book, written about the significance of learning every field of life and the second part written about the lack of human knowledge and suggestions for improvement. After this successful period of Bacons’, more and more essays were being written in the later years to come and throughout this time, essays have now developed into a literary form that takes the perspective of any and every subject or theme. Today, articles, interviews,
We live in interesting times. We, meaning those of us living in the United States of America near the close of the twentieth century, are a part of the most technologically advanced civilization the world has ever know as well as the biggest economy in the world to date. Because of our country's wealth and power, it attracts immigrants from many other nations. Furthermore, because of advances in communications technology, meaning especially television and the Internet, we are exposed to different lifestyles and experiences from all over the world. And these experiences are not just passively presented to us for our viewing pleasure-there are forces actively engaged