Bacon's Rebellion Essay

In 1676, the colony of Virginia experienced the first of many American civil wars, called Bacon’s Rebellion. The rebellion was between the Virginian Governor, Sir William Berkley and local plantation owner Nathaniel Bacon. The rebellion was caused by many different reasons, beginning with social unrest in the colony. “There was no one single cause of Bacon 's Rebellion. Rather, the simmering discontent of the [Virginia] people reached full boil with the Indian raids and the governor 's apparent unwillingness to take decisive action against them.” First, due to a change in England’s trade policies, the prices for Virginia’s main crop, tobacco, were being lowered, resulting in economic instability. Secondly, the colonists were agitated because

Additionally, on his way to exact revenge for the death of the colonists, he not only tracked and attacked hostile enemies, but friendly and passive natives as well. This caused friction in the relationship with many friendly natives that the colony of Virginia previously did fur trading business with. Also, after being denied commission to attack the natives, Bacon took it upon himself to forcefully obtain the governors permission by threatening his life. Lastly, Berkeley’s supporters believed that Bacon had ulterior motives for leading the revolt. They believed that Bacon used the rebellion for his own personal gain, to monopolize over the Native American fur trade and to usurp Berkeley and take the seat of Governor for

Instead of a single catalyst, there were many events that factored into the rise of the rebellion ranging from economic instability, and harsh relationships with neighbors, to government monopolies, and underrepresented masses. Bacon rebellion succeeded in removing Berkeley and all of the existing government employees from office, but only momentarily. Bacon died of dysentery shortly after he claimed the title of Governor. After he passed, his group lost their hold on the government and power was restored to Governor Berkeley. However, after Berkeley regained his title he was promptly relieved of his duties and shipped back to England. Because of all the power struggles, turmoil and chaos in the British owned American colonies, England decided to parent New England with a stricter fist, which ultimately lead the colonists to seek freedom from England in the 1775 American Revolution. More immediately, the rebellion caused the elite class to fear uprising from the “unstable landless class” or the newly released indentured slaves. This fear caused them to forgo their importation of indentured servants and rely excessively on the African Slave trade. Their reasoning being, slaves could never gain their freedom so they could never become a threat. This event was the cause of the American movement which would appear in 1954, the African American Civil Rights