1676 // Bacon’s Rebellion In the year 1676, Nathaniel Bacon, a recent graduate and wealthy man, took on the cause of frontier farmers. Frontier farmers resented the fact they had to jump through many hoops and pay expensive taxes to purchase land on some of Virginia’s most profitable land. This happened to be the area were Native American’s had been pushed back to due to the first wave of settlers. The members of the House of Burgesses, including Governor William Berkeley, rejected many of them from owning the land or any power that came with it. This was due to the fact that the people in power depended on strong relations with the Native American’s and could not risk conflict. Tension soon boiled over and led to a full scale rebellion in which Bacon led a group into Jamestown, burning the capital to ashes. Bacon, himself was killed during the conflict due to disease but had left his mark before passing. This event symbolized the colonist beginning pushes for land. Whether it was for some sort of independence, wealth, or grounds to get power, all shared this common goal. A goal that led to one of the first power shifts within the …show more content…
The rebellious forces gathered weapons and killed twenty slave owners in the process. Other areas attacked included a dozen or so plantations and a country store getting ransacked. The rebellion was squashed quickly and led to death for all participants. This significance this event holds lies within the fact that while this was futile, the slaves came together to start an uprising. When there were attempts at rebellion it was usually individual acts of running away. So when this event did occur, the destruction it brought came along with was synonymous with suicide. This moment showed the first moment slaves all showed how fed up with mistreatment compared to their usual methods of more patient
On 22 April 1677 Charles II’s commissioners, Sir John Berry, Colonel Herbert Jeffreys and Francis Moryson, visited the colony’s governor, Sir William Berkeley, and his wife, Frances, at Green Spring House. The three men had been sent to Virginia with a large armed force to suppress Bacon’s Rebellion and discover its causes by hearing the people’s grievances. The commissioners’ purpose was to bid farewell to the governor, whom the king had summoned to England. Colonel Jeffreys, who commanded the English troops, was designated to replace Berkeley during the latter’s absence. However, Berkeley was old and frail and unlikely to return to the colonyOn 22 April 1677 Charles II’s commissioners, Sir John Berry, Colonel Herbert Jeffreys and Francis
In this document Bacon declares himself General by the consent of the people and asserts that Governor Sir William Berkeley and his supporters have used their power to commit crimes against the people of Virginia and the English Crown. The document cites eight grievances related to unjust taxes, inadequate protection from the Indians, and government corruption. Bacon calls for the immediate surrender or capture of Berkeley and 23
Great question! I get the impression that Bacon was a spoiled brat who wanted to become powerful and rich. It appears that he wanted to increase his wealth with more land and the only way he could acquire this land was to eradicate the Indians. I assume that he resented the fact that Berkeley never fully accepted him into the elite inner circle. Bacon decided the way to gain power and to change the laws for his own advantage was to remove Berkeley and his supporters.
There were major issues in national politics. In 1865 President Abraham Lincon is assassinated and Andrew Johnson now becomes president. Then 13th Amendment is ratified, and its forbids slavery. But that really didn 't change the slavery issue and Black codes were enacted in the south to limit former slaves to become self-sufficient.
Bacon’s followers into rebellion. Frances Berkeley’s statement was witnessed and signed by Sir William, Sir Henry Chicheley, a member of the Council of State, the Reverend John Clough, rector of James City Parish, and Captain James Crews. The latter’s presence at Green Spring is puzzling.19 Crews had urged Bacon to take the illegal action of leading armed men against the Indians without a commission from Berkeley. He was executed at Green Spring in January 1677 for his part in the rebellion. Crews may have visited the Berkeleys after his election to the June Assembly, 1676, perhaps to try and bring about some resolution of the struggle between Berkeley and Bacon.
While being on the council, Bacon abused his powers by disobeying orders from Berkeley, forcing people to fight for him, and later on, burning Jamestown, certainly fitting the definition of a traitor. Governor Berkeley gave very specific orders and disliked when others disobeyed them. When Bacon saw that Berkeley did not
The impacts and criticalness of Bacon's Rebellion in history is that the administration in Virginia got to be startled by the risk of Civil War (the English Civil War was still crisp in everybody's memory). Bacon's Rebellion was the first insubordination in the American Colonies. Bacon's Rebellion and the Declaration of the People set a point of reference for future Americans to get uniformity. The Declaration of the People started the guideline of the assent of the general population. The disclosure of tobacco began the manor economy in Virginia and made an interest for shoddy work filled at first by poor, white Indentured hirelings and after that by dark slaves.
Berkeley was having to face a real rebel, in the state of desperation, he told Nathaniel Bacon that if he gave himself up, he could face trial in England. However, the House of Burgesses disagreed and said that Nathaniel Bacon had to beg to the Governor, Berkeley himself, for forgiveness. Nathaniel Bacon was then elected into the House of Burgesses by some landowners. For the reason of that election he went to a assembly in June 1676, which marks history because of what he did on this historic day. (McCulley, 1987)
In 1676 an uprising occurred known as Bacon’s Rebellion. This Rebellion was lead by Nathaniel Bacon. Virginians who resented Governor William Berkley’s friendly policies towards the Native Americans rose against him by joining the rebellion. “.. For then having expressly countermanded and sent back our army by passing his word for the peaceable demeanor of the said Indians, who immediately prosecuted their evil intentions, committing horrid murders and robberies in all places, being protected by the said engagement and word past of him the said Sir William Berkeley.” (Bacon’s Rebellion: The Declaration)
Howard Zinn discussed the actuality of Colonial America, in which the wealthy handled poor whites, black slaves, and Native Americans as undesirables. Zinn’s thesis was the idea of plutocracy, government by the wealthy, controlling American society. Class lines hardened, distinctions between rich and poor became sharper. Wealth equated to power, slaves, and estate subsequently, fortifying their superiority over the disadvantaged. This inequality of wealth and power caused disapprobation among the impoverished populace and defiances such as Bacon’s Rebellion undertook.
It highlighted that the rebels were going to go as far as killing anyone regardless of age or gender to achieve their freedom. The most interesting part about this incident is that Turner only killed one person who was a white woman, he beat her over the head with a fence post. He believed that the only way the Anglo-Americans were going to understand the sufferings of slaves was if they have been treated the same way as slaves, which was beatings, killings and lynching. Nat Turners rebellion put out an alert to white people throughout the state. Whites feared for their lives and started to build a militia after the massacre of 60 white people.
The result of the Bacon’s Rebellion made a establishment of hierarchies based on class, but hidden by race. The Bacon’s Rebellion had to do with the environment because there was a significant deal of social mobility, but this gave the colonist anxiety. The colonists faced lack of stability and an uncertain future, plus a chance of social mobility. Therefore, this became a conflict as individuals fought for nature's
King Philips War and Bacon’s Rebellion were two pivotal points in early American history. Ironically, they both shared many similarities between them. There are three main points of discussion in comparison of the two conflicts: 1) why the fighting started, 2) what they were fighting over, and finally 3) who they were fighting against. Each of these conflicts resulted in tragic loss of many lives of settlers and Indians and caused even more tension between the English and the Native Americans.
This led to Bacon’s Rebellion, a gang of impoverished and landless former servants attacked the capital of the colony and plundered the homes of the wealthy. Both colonies constituted a successful form of government; however, both governments were carried out in dissimilar ways. The establishment of two primitive English colonies, Jamestown and Massachusetts Bay Colony had many homogeneous attributes and differences. Both had an adequate relationship with the Native Americans that deteriorated and
This was heightened by national events like John Brown’s Raid. This unified the South against the abolition of slavery