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Critical analysis on bacons rebellion
Critical analysis on bacons rebellion
What influenced bacon's rebellion
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Bacon’s rebellion occurred in colonial Virginia in 1676. A large widespread dispute between governor William Berkeley and Nathaniel bacon was the start of it. While some historians argue the cause of this rebellion to some extent was personal, most agree that it was due to high taxes, prices of tobacco, and the right to land of native Americans as well as protection against them. This armed rebellion or revolt led by bacon as against the rule and policies of governor Berkeley. Since governor Berkeley had failed to address the demands of the colonists, mainly not retaliating to native Americans, a popular uprising against Berkeley was encouraged by Nathaniel bacon. However, bacon’s rebellion was not in the interested of protecting native …show more content…
Americans, thus it would impact harshly on them Governor Berkeley had several reforms which were in the interest of mainly landowners and the wealthy, and thus these reforms had some opposition.
Berkeley ran a corrupt system in alliance with the wealthy tobacco planters for thirty years. His reward to his own followers would be land grants as well as office positions. This tobacco boon had benefited planters, small farmers, and former servants. Meanwhile, the heavy taxes on tobacco and falling prices reduced the prospect of small farmers. Berkeley had refused to respond to any frontier attacks by native Americans, and also denied colonists claims to native American frontier land. In relation to this, the right to vote, which before as for all adult me, was not restricted to landowners in 1670. Also the fact that white settlement in areas reserved for native Americans was refused, angered land wanting colonists. Berkeley policy was to preserve the friendship and loyalty of the subject Indians while assuring the settlers that they were not hostile. This reservation of the native America land, as well as refusal to retaliate against them was a great benefit to the Indians. It allowed them the protection and home they …show more content…
deserved. The leader of the rebellion, Nathaniel bacon had just arrived in Virginia in 1763. He was said to be a wealthy and determined planter. Already a member of the governor’s council, his popularity grew quickly. Bacon thus countered in response to Berkley’s reforms and had support. He called for the reduction of taxes during a recession, removal of all Indians the colony, and tobacco prices. However, it seemed as if his main intention was for the removal of the native Americans and he thus gained a lot of support. Bacon also offered freedom, and access to all Indian lands to those who joined him. bacons backers included wealthy men, mainly from outside the governor’s council. His supporters or volunteers consisted of small farmers, landless men, indentured servants, and even some Africans. Nathaniel bacon’s form of action consisted of gathering a small armed force in an unauthorized campaign, against the governors and those who protected the native Americans. Berkeley ordered bacon to dissolve his army, however, bacon refused. He instead marched to Jamestown and burned it to the ground. After this chaos and havoc, squadron warships from England arrived and restored order. Governor Berkeley had twenty-three of bacons supporters hand and bacon himself had become ill and died shortly after. This was the end of bacon’s rebellion. Aftermaths of the rebellion consisted of both positive and negative factors.
Property qualifications for voting were restored, authorities reduced taxes, and planters developed new styles in which they cultivated the support of poorer neighbors. However, to further prevent any rise of rebellions from indentured servants, the authorities increased the shift to slaves. In this the authorities saw an option for decreasing the future rebellions and satisfying the rebels by having them not be the lowest in society. This therefore led to a racially defined permanent system of slavery. The fate of American Americans, after bacons rebellion declined rapidly. In relation to the native Americans, authorities established more aggressive Indian policies, opening western areas to small
farmers. Bacons rebellion left a lasting impact on many reforms. Many changes were brought in response to the rebellion and not all were positive or fair. Since the rebellion was mainly due to actions not taken against native Americans, the aftermath of the rebellion was not a favourable one for them. The rebellion had mainly started because Berkeley refused to take action against Indians. Thus the rebellion itself had already sparked conflicts with native Americans, and bacon’s and his supporters spent a lot of energy and time pursuing Indians. Even though the rebellion had ended, the governors still heeded the call of bacon and his supporters and thus adopted harsher Indian policies. Also the Virginia Indian fortunes started to decline rapidly after the rebellion. Bacon’s rebellion proved to be a harshly negative impact on the native Americans living in the Virginia colony.
Bacon’s Rebellion, King Phillip’s War and the Pequot War were similar in that there were conflicts with Natives over land, however they differed in the ways the wars were carried out and the results of the wars. Bacon’s rebellion was a result of the poorer classes moving west to cultivate land, however they encountered natives and the governor refused to protect them. Likewise the Pequot war was a direct effect of puritans moving westward, additionally all three wars resulted in the colonists as victors. During King Phillip’s war the natives destroyed a fifth of the towns in Masseuses and Rhode Island in contrast to the other wars where the natives did not cause as much damage to the colonists. Bacon’s Rebellion was significant because afterwards
Bacon was a man of opportunity and when a farmer that tried to trade with Native Americans was killed, it became his ticket to making it big in the New World. Only the governor, William Berkley, was allowed to trade with the Native Americans and nobody else. When the farmer was killed, William Berkley denied the upset colonists their desire to fight back. In doing so, it led Bacon to challenge his authority. He began to rally up colonists living in the backcountry where the colonists had no representation, no opportunity to achieve a fortune, and lived in a hostile environment. Everything those colonists did not have would be Bacon’s leverage in convincing them to support him and his cause. He had led 1,000 men to fight with him in hopes to rule the colony and would make changes to their benefit. William Berkley then branded Bacon as a rebel and sent for British troops. Bacon and his supporters then went into the backcountry where he eventually died of
Nathaniel thought that the government did not provide them with any protection, and this really upset him. It upset Bacon so much that he decided to create an angry mob to burn Jamestown and neighboring Indian settlements to the ground in protest. In other words, he had a temper tantrum.
In the Chesapeake region, Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676 led to major changes. This rebellion involved indentured servants revolting against the system, which put an end to indentured servitude and nearly annihilated the city of Jamestown. The servants believed their natural rights had been violated, so they rose up in revolution. As landowners began to fear mutinous servants, the plantation system expanded significantly. This relied heavily on the use of slaves from Africa, and greatly sped up the production of cash crops in the region.
To many of the English colonists, any land that was granted to them in a charter by the English Crown was theirs’, with no consideration for the natives that had already owned the land. This belittlement of Indians caused great problems for the English later on, for the natives did not care about what the Crown granted the colonists for it was not theirs’ to grant in the first place. The theory of European superiority over the Native Americans caused for any differences in the way the cultures interacted, as well as amazing social unrest between the two cultures.
James D. Rice’s Tales From a Revolution is perhaps one of the most important works on early Colonial America. This concise and informative narrative focuses on an important event in American History that has simply been overlooked by many Americans and historians, Bacon’s Rebellion, which occurred in 1676. This revolt played a significant role in the course of history at a pivotal time in early America. Rice focuses on much more than the actual revolt, giving a very vivid and easy to comprehend overview of the occurrences that took place before, during, and after this climactic and transformative event in history that would be one of the first of many rebellions and revolutions that would gradually pave the way for the foundation of America.
...able behavior far different from that of rebellion.” The colonists held their tongues as long as they could, but in 1676, their frustration grew too strong. Bacon and a thousand Virginians rebelled and overthrew the governor, in what is known as Bacon’s Rebellion. Shortly after the rebellion, Bacon died, and Governor Berkeley returned and viciously crushed the brigands.
Evaluate the relative importance of two of the following as factors prompting Americans to rebel in 1776.
During the years of 1675 and 1676 the North American colonies experienced conflicts that shaped the dynamics of their colonial life. King Phillip's War would effectively end relations between the New England colonists and the Indians. Also, the rebellion in Virginia led by Nathaniel Bacon stressed the growing discontent of poor frontier farmers for British rule. The consequences of these two events clearly had an impact on different levels that would extend well beyond their time. Therefore, the years 1675 and 1676 played a very significant role in the Northern American colonies.
...ve in Virginia did not mean immigrants were free from its rule. Upon departing England, those leaving would take an “oath of allegiance and supremacy” (Virginia Ship’s List). This meant that the people owed their loyalty to the monarch of England, not to Virginia itself. The colonists of Virginia could have been frustrated that their head official was chosen by a single person, a person who had no place within their community. In fact, Berkeley, the governor the monarch of England elected, “brought high taxes on the people, increased his power at the expense of local officials and created a monopoly on Indian trade” (Divine, 85). This abuse of power is possibly one of the causes of rebellions, specifically Bacon’s rebellion. This republic government leading the Virginia Colony was an increasingly stark contrast to the Massachusetts’ Colony’s democratic government.
The American Revolution was a “light at the end of the tunnel” for slaves, or at least some. African Americans played a huge part in the war for both sides. Lord Dunmore, a governor of Virginia, promised freedom to any slave that enlisted into the British army. Colonists’ previously denied enlistment to African American’s because of the response of the South, but hesitantly changed their minds in fear of slaves rebelling against them. The north had become to despise slavery and wanted it gone. On the contrary, the booming cash crops of the south were making huge profits for landowners, making slavery widely popular. After the war, slaves began to petition the government for their freedom using the ideas of the Declaration of Independence,” including the idea of natural rights and the notion that government rested on the consent of the governed.” (Keene 122). The north began to fr...
...owners holding too much political and economic power, as personified by Governor Berkeley. Thus the landless, freed indentured servants revolted in 1676 in Bacon's Rebellion, as is stated in Bacon's Manifesto symbolizing the conflict in Virginia between its aristocratic and poor inhabitants of the back county over the aristocracy's concentration of power and refusal to help those living in the frontier.
Cause of the French Revolution The essential cause of the French revolution was the collision between a powerful, rising bourgeoisie and an entrenched aristocracy defending its privileges”. This statement is very accurate, to some extent. Although the collision between the two groups was probably the main cause of the revolution, there were two other things that also contributed to the insanity during the French revolution – the debt that France was in as well as the famine. Therefore, it was the juxtaposing of the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy as well as the debt and famine France was in that influenced the French Revolution. Many people were making a case for a new concept of society, in which commoners, especially the educated middle classes (bourgeoisie), had.
When America was first founded the colonists believed that they could do one of two things. They could either ask for entire families and groups of people to come over from England to start family farms and businesses to help the colony prosper. The other option was to take advantage of the lower class people and promise them land and freedom for a couple of years of servitude (Charles Johnson et al, Africans in America 34). Obviously the second option was used and this was the start of indentured servitude in colonial America. The indentured servants that came from England were given plenty of accommodations in exchange for their servitude. They were also promised that after their time of service was complete that they would receive crops, land, and clothing to start their new found lives in America. Men, children, and even most criminals, rushed to the ports hoping to be able to find work in America and soon start their new life. However, a large quantity of them either died on the voyage over, died from diseases, or died from the intensity of their work, before their servitude was complete (Johnson et al, Africans, 34). America finally began to show signs of prosperity due to the crop, tobacco. The only problem now was that the majorit...
The American Revolution marked the divorce of the British Empire and its one of the most valued colonies. Behind the independence that America had fought so hard for, there emerged a diverging society that was eager to embrace new doctrines. The ideals in the revolution that motivated the people to fight for freedom continued to influence American society well beyond the colonial period. For example, the ideas borrowed from John Locke about the natural rights of man was extended in an unsuccessful effort to include women and slaves. The creation of state governments and the search for a national government were the first steps that Americans took to experiment with their own system. Expansion, postwar depression as well as the new distribution of land were all evidence that pointed to the gradual maturing of the economic system. Although America was fast on its way to becoming a strong and powerful nation, the underlying issues brought about by the Revolution remained an important part in the social, political and economical developments that in some instances contradicted revolutionary principles in the period from 1775-1800.