Warren M. Billings received his PhD in history from Northern Illinois University, was a long-time Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus at New Orleans University, and is currently a visiting professor at the College of William and Mary Law School. In his 1970 article “The Causes of Bacon’s Rebellion,” Billings examines the fifteen years preceding the uprising in an attempt to determine its origins. He emphasizes three elements of late-17th century Virginia society which contributed to the unrest; rapid social mobility and a decentralization of the colony’s power, political instability caused by a reduction in status of Governor Berkeley, and a stagnant colonial economy. Billings presents several profound interpretations in his work, …show more content…
The common theme throughout is Governor Berkeley’s inability to effectively maintain political influence in a steadily decentralized society. Billings’ introduction clearly defines the topics he will be discussing, while his conclusion wraps up his argument succinctly by answering the question of why Bacon’s Rebellion did not occur prior to 1676. “The rebellion came when it did because by 1676 the factors which contributed to the colony’s instability coalesced to create a potentially explosive situation in which large numbers of people were psychologically prepared to rebel.” While the paper is written as a narrative which allows for easier retention, it is done so with a level of analysis expected of a professional historian. Billings moves through his main points with cogent transitions, shifting from the power struggle between county officials and Berkeley, economic issues facing the colony, diversification, and the last minute appeasement legislation of the June Assembly, with sufficient craft. As expected of someone with Billings’ credentials, and the article being published in a peer reviewed journal, grammatical errors and misspellings are absence from the
In the concluding fourth section entitled “Independence” Holton brings the crux of his argument to fruition, arguing convincingly that Virginia's elites were pushed ever further down the road to open rebellion by the actions of several different groups, whose contributions to the founding of the United States have been overlooked by historians. Holton's conclusion offers a vision of pluralistic causation behind the final decision of the gentry class to finally make the break with Britain and highlights the need for further research and study of points raised in this monograph concerning the contributions these marginal groups in the founding of the United States.
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
Many people know about the Revolutionary war and how the colonists seized their independence from the British. What most do not understand is that there was a series of events that steared the colonists onto the road to independence. They began to think for themselves and started to challenge authority. Coming to the New World, the colonists reached for power and financial opportunity when challenging authority in these three examples: the Witchcraft Trials, Bacon’s Rebellion, and the Boston Tea Party.
Bacon's Declaration in the Name of the People (30 July 1676) The Declaracon of the People.1.For haveing upon specious pretences of publiqe works raised greate unjust taxes upon the Comonality for the advancement of private favorites and other sinister ends, but noe visible effects in any measure adequate, For not haveing dureing this long time of his Gouvernement in any measure advanced this hopefull Colony either by fortificacons Townes or Trade. 2.For haveing abused and rendred contemptable the Magistrates of Justice, by advanceing to places of Judicature, scandalous and Ignorant favorites. 3.For haveing wronged his Majesties prerogative and interest, by assumeing Monopoly of the Beaver trade, and for haveing in that unjust gaine betrayed
Breen, T. H., and Stephen Innes. Myne Owne Ground: Race and Freedom on Virginia 's Eastern Shore, 1640-1676. 25th anniversary ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. 142 pages (kindle edition).
On the brink of revolution, the colonies were divided amongst themselves. Two factions with different ideologies “The Patriots” & and the “The Loyalist”, to know these factions we must first know another. Because both parties played a pivotal role in the “American Revolution”.
Berkeley recounted his achievements before and while being governor. He was one who protected the people from the Indians during the war. He disputed Bacon’s claim of not treating everyone equally in the colony. Berkeley said that he valued and considered everyone’s vote when deciding on laws. He stressed that he did everything he could to protect the people. Berkeley justified his actions of not immediately killing the Indians because he says that he did not know that they were committing such horrid acts against the people of the colony (Governor William Berkely on Bacon's Rebellion 19 May
With every piece of history, behind them were tensions. Bacon’s Rebellion took place in Jamestown, Virginia in 1676, led by Nathaniel Bacon. Sir William Berkeley, the royal governor of Virginia, adopted policies that favored the large planters. He also angered farmers on Virginia's western frontier because he failed to protect their settlements from Indian attacks. Nathaniel Bacon was upset due to how Berkeley was leading colony and led a rebellion against Berkeley's government. He raised an army of volunteers and conducted a series of raids against Indian villages a...
Early Virginia's flourishing cultivation of tobacco drew a diversity of people, from fresh war veterans and former soldiers, to adventurers and ordinary people looking to recoup from former monetary losses. However the tobacco did not only alter the country culturally and economically, but it “ threw more wood into the fire.” It strengthened the infamous individualistic attitude the colonists had. The advent...
"Governor William Berkely on Bacon's Rebellion 19 May 1676." American History From Revolution to Reconstruction and beyond. http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1651-1700/governor-william-berkely-on-bacons-rebellion-19-may-1676.php
...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.
Ellis Starts off his book with a request to the reader to consider the American Revolution not only as how we see it today, but how it would of looked to the founders, and what actually happened. He introduces you to some of the key figures in the founding of our country and the idea that some of the founders found the successful creation of the United States as inevitable conclusion. Ellis highlights some of the dangers of what the founders did along with the improbability of the “miracle at Philadelphia”. H...
As a result of the French and Indian War, England’s attention became focused on the areas that required tending by the government other than North America, which provided the colonies with the one thing that ensured the downfall of Britain’s monarchial reign over America: salutary neglect. The unmonitored inhabitants of the colonies accustomed themselves to a level of independence that they had never possessed before, and when these rights were jeopardized by the enforcement of the Stamp Act after the Seven Year’s War, the colonists would not take it lying down. The colonies bound together in rebellion against the taxation without representation through boycotting the use of English goods, as embodied by Benjamin Franklin’s famous drawing of a snake; the “Join or Die” snake, as a whole representing the functionality and “life” of the colonies if they would work together, also forewarns the uselessness and “death” of the individual regions, suggesting that the colonies as a whole would have to fight the revolution against the Mother Country or else fail miserably...
The History and Present State of Virginia was first published in 1705 and it was compromised of four parts: “The History of the First Settlement of Virginia”, “The Natural Productions and Conveniences of the Country”, “The Native Indians, their Religion, Laws, and Customs, in War and Peace” and lastly “The present State of the Country, as to the Polity of the Government, and the Improvements of the Land”. The book first appeared in London and it was three hundred pages of text with fourteen engravings. It was the best source of information on Virginia at its time. The book is formed of Robert Beverley’s personal observations and stories he heard. It also uses borrowed material, both published and unpublished alike, and it relies heavily upon
Rawls, James J., and Walton Bean. California: An Interpretive History. 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968. Print.