Bacon's Rebellion Essay

Racial Slavery - Caused by the Constant Curing of Anxiety

Bacon’s Rebellion was highly influenced by the English Civil War. When the English Civil War occurred, the colonies subconsciously took it as an example of the acceptable way to act. The solution to Bacon’s Rebellion follow what the English did with the French’s and Spanish’s plan. Bacon’s Rebellion tweaked the solution of the English Civil War in order to make it most suitable yet, unexpectedly outrageous solution. In order to fully recognize how the English Civil War influenced Bacon’s Rebellion a side-by-side comparison must occur.

Bacon’s Rebellion occurred in Virginia in 1676. It was a public argument between Nathaniel Bacon, a civilian, and William Berkely, governor of Virginia.

Bacon was upset with Berkeley because he and his cabinet were trading with the Indians. This would have been a problem even if Berkeley himself did not outlaw trading with the Indians because at that time in Virginia, tobacco prices were at their all-time low. When there was less money in English, anxiety rose and caused more political tension.
At that time, politics centered around the well-being of the money.

The English Civil War (1642-1651) is a prime example of this. The cause of the English Civil War and Bacon’s Rebellion was money. Charles I got tired of asking for money so for ten years he found money elsewhere. When he did call parliament back into session his relationship with parliament was rubbish. In order to fix this relationship, he imprisoned 10 members of parliament, which resulted in the English Civil War. The English Civil War set the example that it was okay to waste money on war. From the colonies’ perspective, if the motherland could fight amongst itself and simply elect a new official, then governmental action could be taken to fix wars in the colonies also. From the motherland’s perspective, war had one certain outcome and that was limiting the profits England received. Everything else about war caused anxiety. The only way to stop losing profit by war was to respond to wars with a strict and deepened solution in order to prevent the reoccurrence of the

war.
Instead of electing a new official as a solution to Bacon’s Rebellion, Virginia adopted new slave laws.

These laws affected people, mostly slaves, on a more personal level than simply electing a new official. The new laws banned Indian slavery, made slaves a form of commodity, and decided the status of a child was based on the mother’s status. These laws are associated with other techniques in order to keep slavery as organized of a system as possible. The organization of slavery was so affective that it lasted for centuries. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, published in the 19th century, the personal effect of the status law still stands strong. Douglas’ father was a free man but his mom was a slave, so therefore he was a slave. The English used another technique, separating him from his mother, in order to distract his mind from family and more onto work. By separating him from his mother and selling him to another owner, this is an example of the commodity act. If slaves were seen as human beings, it would be the Christian and humanly thing to keep the child and mother

together.
The final solution to the English Civil War wasn’t humanly but it also did not cause a bunch of ripple effects in citizens’ life such like Bacon’s Rebellion did. In the English Civil War, Charles I was beheaded and that was the end of problems with Charles. This has to do with the fact that the problem was within the government itself. There was a set rules and duties for each part of the government. This made it easier to figure out which part of the government was lacking and led to a more effective solution.
In Bacon’s Rebellion, the solution did not severely punish the governor or the Indians. Instead, the Indians were awarded freedom from slavery and the governor was simply pushed out of office by civilians. The battle of civilians versus the governor made it harder to decide who was the cause of the dysfunction. The governor is supposed to make sure the wants of the motherland are met but the people are in control. In “Bacon’s Rebellion: The Declaration (1676)” Bacon signed as “General Consent of the People,” which is an accurate title. Bacon’s followers may be majority poor whites and slaves but they do have control over the government, despite being low on the social hierarchy. Indentured servants and slaves were an essential part of all of the English owned colonies. The teaming of poor whites (indentured servants) and slaves, the two major labor sources, caused major anxiety amongst the English. If indentured servants, poor whites, and slaves did not exist, the mercantile system between the colonies and its motherland would not have gotten strong and the goal of acquiring riches would be far from achieved.
The English recognized the connection between slavery and power and deemed it to be more meaningful to the success of the colonies than the surface problem of Indian trade. Laws were enforced to further decrease the hopeful mindset of slaves, adding to the Thistlewood model of slavery the English adopted. Slaves were lawfully made a commodity so they could be mentally and legally controlled. People could voice their opinion, property could not.
The outcome of Bacon’s Rebellion indirectly solved the primary issue. Political stress in Virginia due to decreasing tobacco prices caused anxiety amongst the colonists and the motherland. The new slave laws tightened the reigns on the labor source, making it easier to produce more tobacco, which was the key to raising the tobacco prices. Even though the indirect solution relieves political stress, it does not relieve African slaves of their curiosity of why the natives weren’t also enslaved.
The answer to that could be that Native Americans just weren’t good slaves. Native Americans weren’t as immune to European diseases as West African slaves were. The second answer could be that the English saw themselves in the Indians. The Indians were easier to convert to the English culture than the African slaves were because of their somewhat similar religious views (eg: worshipping gods).
As soon as King Phillip’s War ended 1676, Bacon’s Rebellion began. It who was the Natives who played role in King Phillip’s War (Metacom’s Rebellion), which caused panic about Native relations in the first place. John Sassaman, a praying Indian, was murdered. The whites in the next town over executed eight of his alleged murders at Plymouth. In the Indians eyes, this crossed the line; it was supposed to be them who decided who was responsible for this crime.
This crime opened the door for other complaints. In 1675, Metacom released a list of complaints. The overall image of the grievances was the unjust way the English were treating the Indians. There was a time when Natives were strong than the English but still treated them English with respect, but now the English are strong than them and they are not being treated with equal respect. The Indians accepted the English culture and shared many helpful tips with them, such as how to plant corn. Now, it’s as if the English want the Indians to be just like them.
The English classified the Indians when they looked at the French and Spanish models. From those models, Native relations could result in a gain for the economy or a loss. Trading with the Indians was a major success for the French, however, the Spanish neglected the Natives. Wars cost money, money that could not be spent on another part of the system that actually benefited the economy. From those polar opposite relations, the English decided they wanted to be in the middle.
The key to doing so was converting Indians to Christianity and moving them to praying towns. The English thought the Indians would never suspect an attack on their culture through religion. This idea was successfully executed by following the ideas of the John Eliot Model. The idea of praying towns originated in 1631 when John Eliot, a Puritan minister, decided to bless the Indians with the knowledge of true religion. Eliot learned the Algonquian language and spent eight years translating the bible into that language.
In these towns, Natives somewhat abandoned their culture but still provided helpful tips. They shared the same language, beliefs, ceremonies, dress, and customs as the English. However, for King Phillip’s war, many aspects of the Indian culture were revived for survival. Without some of the old Indian technique, Indians would not have survived “one of the bloodiest wars in the history of America.” Despite the Indians being able to revive their old ways in order to survive the war, the English totally ignored this. The English thought that if they could manipulate them once, they could do it again.
Another sign that the English saw the Natives as being accustomed to their culture and could be further manipulated into transitioning into the English culture is the name of the war itself. Usually, the war is named by the winning group (hint: Bacon’s Rebellion). The English won this argument but there was no leader on their side or the Indian’s side by the name King Phillip. The English gave Metacom, the actual leader of the rebellion, the name Phillip, a name common amongst Eastern Christians. The English could have called Metacom a chief, the leader of a group of Native Americans, but instead they called him a king, the male ruler of an independent state, especially one who inherits the position by right of birth. This shows that English had such a need to classify Indians, as they did with slaves.
The classification of the Indians through praying towns moved attention from economics and more towards religion, which at that time equaled social acceptance. The English were aware of this and stepped in to prevent the English relations with the Indians to turn into one that was similar to the Spanish’s relationship with the Natives. Bacon’s Rebellion had a solution that was both social and economic. Bacon let King Phillip’s war cause anxiety but the government was aware of the effect of having a solution be more social than economical. Social and economic laws could not be applied to the Indians because the attempt make economics better by socially changing them, resulted in King Phillip’s War. The only solution to King Phillip’s war is that the Indians would not live amongst the whites. Slaves and whites were the only parties involved in Bacon’s Rebellion that could be manipulated socially by law and benefit the motherland economically.
The evolution of indentured servitude to racial slavery was not an over-night occurrence for the English colonies. The solution to Bacon’s anxiety was similar to the motherland’s solution for anxiety about planning the colonies, which is why things got so out of hand. Bacon’s Rebellion was the last straw, and the government knew that an answer was needed to satisfy the economic anxiety in the motherland and Virginia. The classification of slaves by race cured economic anxiety and was the piece that made all the minor systems the English attempted to use in the development of the colonies complete.