Nathaniel Bacon Research Paper

In the first place, Nathaniel Bacon's Rebellion was significant in early colonial history because it pronounced the grim collapse of Native American tribes that were residing in the Chesapeake region at the time. In his Declaration in the name of the people, Nathaniel Bacon cited several discrepancies against the Governor including, "For having protected, favoured, and Imboldned the

After the French and Indian War, tension was increasing in the English Colonies due to over taxation laws. In March of 1770, hatred between the colonists and the British soldiers erupted into fighting in an event known as the Boston Massacre. The Boston Massacre was a significant event in the American Independence movement. The source of the conflict with the British troops and the Bostonians was the Townshend Act in 1767, three years prior to the massacre. The primary sources in this collection of documents are of different accounts of the massacre: a pamphlet of the testimony of William Wyatt, an article from the Boston Gazette and Country Journal, a sketch by Paul Revere, an account of Captain Thomas Preston, and a court case from John Adams. These documents expose the turmoil of that day from different perspectives of Bostonians and British soldiers. They also show how some colonial leaders used this event to advance the patriot cause. The account of Captain Thomas Preston said that he tried to

When the governor denied Bacon military commission, Bacon gathered his neighbors and proceeded with attacking any Indians he could find. Bacon was then expelled from the council and

In 1676, Nathaniel Bacon rebelled and held a revolt in Colonial Virginia. High taxes, low prices for tobacco, and resentment against special privileges given those close to the governor, Sir William Berkeley, provided the background for the uprising. These factors made the rebellion inevitable. All of the chaos was precipitated by Governor Berkeley's failure to defend the frontier against attacks by Native Americans. Bacon commanded two unauthorized but successful expeditions against the tribes and was then elected to the new House of Burgesses, which Berkeley had been forced to convene. Berkeley then sent out a warrant for his arrest and Bacon was put in jail. Bacon soon was released and he immediately gathered his supporters,

The event of Bacon’s Rebellion told by Schweikart showed that the success in colonization was the underlying cause of the rebellion. To start, in Jamestown, there were members elected for the legislative assembly that was divided into an upper house consisting of the governor and council with a lower house made up of burgesses. This participation in politics portrayed the theme of Politics and Power while Schweikart described the background of Bacon’s Rebellion with the white frontiersmen fearing the Indian’s attacks. Nathaniel Bacon Jr. became the governor of Virginia to be involved in the politics by leading the Virginian commoners to rebel for protection against the Indians. Moreover, the Virginians were angered by the fact that Berkeley

Despite being thought to be corrupt, the assembly declared war on all "bad" Indians and set up a strong defensive zone around Virginia. The Long Assembly was accused to being corrupt because they traded with the Indians. Most of the traders were friends of the governor Berkeley The Indian wars, which came from this made people pay high taxes to pay the army and to get revenge on the colonists for being a cause of the

Bacon’s Rebellion may have stemmed from issues with the Indians, but it was rooted far deeper than this surface level issue. Bacon’s reason for rebelling still don’t seem fully clear to me. The colonists, in contrast, have a whole list of grievances.

In the year 1676, colonists of Jamestown rose up and rebelled against their governor, Sir William Berkeley, following the slaughter of several hundred colonists by the Native Americans. Their leader, Nathaniel Bacon, claimed that he was fighting for the colonists best interests because it was his duty to protect them. Following Bacon 's lead, the rebellion began attacking all Native Americans, both hostile and peaceful. Was Bacon a hero for attempting to protect the colonists, and putting a stop to the attacks from the Native Americans? Or a traitor for attacking innocent people, and trying to take Jamestown from Berkeley and the other colonists? While Bacon claimed his actions were for the protection of the colonists, they do not justify his actions. Bacon attacked many peaceful tribes of Native Americans, and in doing so he put many colonists in danger. And Berkeley was not any better considering he was willing to sit back and watch it all unfold.

Berkeley saw Bacon’s action as a direct challenge to his own authority. The governor didn’t like his choices, and now refused to grant him anything. However the council, fearing the awful consequences of disrupting an unhappy individual who was ready armed and had the governor, council, and assembly entirely in their power, told the governor to accept his request. With much hesitancy the governor signed it, and put the power of war and peace into Bacon’s hands. This was not a good decision to make considering Bacon just came to the council and threatened them to grant his wishes. He then immediately marched off, achieving his end, which was in effect power to acquire a trust of the Indian trade for himself and his friends. The governor, having failed to raise an army against Bacon to fight his men, had no choice but to flee to the Eastern shore. He then gathered enough strength to return to Jamestown, where he proclaimed Bacon and his men. Berkley had called for new elections to the Burgesses for better aid of the Native American problem. Bacon was not serving his business in the House of Burgesses; instead he was at his plantation miles away. By then the governor had a small party with him. He aided them with clothes, arms and ammunitions, in order to cross the bay and oppose the rebel. Bacon feared that he could not fight against them then decided set fire to the town to solve

Without the efforts of John Smith, the leader of Jamestown (Virginia’s first colony), a colony of wanting more gold which was founded by the profit driven Virginia Company would have easily failed. The House of Burgesses was a representative self-government that was built in Virginia. But, this was a government that was followed by class and not equality (Doc. H). The wealthy families who held Virginia’s most valuable land, the “first families of Virginia,” ruled the House of Burgesses. These type of wealthy landowners were not answering the needs of the poor. The lack of responding led to Bacon’s Rebellion, when a gang of bankrupt and landless former indentured servants started the attack of the capital of the colony and robbed the homes of the

Soon the conflict between the cousins envel- oped the entire region and saw Jamestown burn to the ground on September 19, 1676 (Jones 2011). After the death of Bacon due to dysentery, Berkeley was able to gain control of the region; the

On March 5, 1770, a large group of colonists began to surround a group of soldiers in front of the State House. Soon it went from trading insults to shouting at each other, even throwing snowballs. Until, out of an act of self-defense because they thought they were about to be attacked, the British started to shoot the colonists. Five colonists were killed, including Crispus Attucks. This enraged the people of Boston.

Firstly, differences in settler structure were part of the reason for the unique identities of the New England and Chesapeake Region. “1. Joseph Hull, of Somerset, a minister, aged 40 years 2. Agnes Hull, his wife, aged 25 years 3. Joan Hull, his daughter, aged l5 years 4. Joseph Hull, his son, aged 13 years 5. Tristram, his son, aged 11 years…13. Musachiell

With anger and hatred growing in the colonists, no one expected the following event to occur, the Boston Massacre. In early colonial times, people wanted freedom and they fought for it hard. They put everything on the line, even their lives. When the colonists thought they didn't get what they deserved, they took to the streets to protest, but this time it ended up in a bloody occurrence. Most people believe that the event started with British soldiers firing into the mob, which ended up wounding many and killing five people. This raised anger and eventually led to a famous trial where John Adams took a brave patriotic stance; he defended the soldiers who took 5 of the colonist's lives. Below is a timeline event of what happened during these times, which illustrates the many reasons why the colonies were upset with England.

Bacon's Rebellion was a bloody uprising against American Indians and the colonial government whom William Berkeley was a governor. When Bacon arrived at Jamestown, planting tobacco wasn't profitable as it was before. The tobacco price had fallen down as more and more newcomers came to America as laborers in the tobacco fields. Race played a main role in this rebellion in which the American Indians were viewed as trade inferiors to Bacon. Thus, Bacon's motive of getting rid of the American Indians was triggered. Furthermore, the colonial refused to support Bacon's idea in which urged him to challenge them.