Nathaniel Bacon's Rebellion

Survival of the initial colonial settlement of Jamestown, Virginia relied heavily on capital and power to advance itself as a self-sustaining colony. As a result, the Chesapeake region traded throughout the previous century with Native Americans for economic prosperity, thus, allowing the tribes to keep their land. Also, the colonial government demonstrated power through corruption at the highest of levels as well as indentured servitude as a way to significantly dilute the amount of individuals with land. In 1675, social unrest ensued when Virginia's own Nathaniel Bacon led a rebellion of landless freemen with common interests through manipulation and violence as the apparent, "General by Consent of the People." Nathaniel Bacon's Rebellion

"In 1660, only nine hundred blacks resided in the Chesapeake, some of whom had come as servants and were free. Two decades later, their number had grown to forty-three hundred (Ayers 79). Following the end of the rebellion, the Chesapeake region did not want to make the same mistake twice so the elite brought over enslaved Africans through trade instead of importing white servants to tend to their work. In the ever-hierarchical colony of Virginia, the elites sought an end to one class only to create an entirely new one. Furthermore, the vague definition of African Americans became lucid following the rebellion when individuals were now clearly distinguished between African or European descent. Ayers chronicles the slave's limitations, stating that they were, "bound for life and restricted by laws, black slaves could not demand farms or a voice in government (Ayers 68). These troubling new measures were thought to be an answer to the savage Indians as well as the restless freemen, but instead proved that Nathaniel Bacon only realized what he wanted, but not what he was