The Major Causes Of Bacon's Rebellion In The 17th Century

Even though the critical aid of Indians had saved the settlers in Virginia from extinction, conflict—rooted in both ideological and practical reasons—was a prevalent tone in the relations between Virginian settlers and Indians during the 17th century. The undesirable relations began in the first months of the Jamestown colony. The early colonists in Jamestown viewed the Indians as savages and expressed hostility towards them. Captain John Smith established an unstable relationship with the Indians, occasionally stealing food from them. Tensions increased even further when tobacco cultivation became prominent in Virginia, which increased the demand for land as farmers required large tracts of farmland for tobacco cultivation. This increased demand for land caused settlers to expand into areas claimed by Indians. In fact, one of the major causes of Bacon’s Rebellion, the most powerful uprising against authority in North America prior to the Revolution, was the desire to expand into Native American lands. The series of conflicts that triggered Bacon’s rebellion began when Doeg Indians assaulted a plantation in retaliation for intrusions upon native land. White settlers struck back at the Indians in

The first Puritan settlers of the Plymouth colony relied on local Indians for basic survival, but attitudes towards Indians soon turned sour. The colonists later viewed the Indians as savages and threats to the Puritan ambition for a godly society. Some Puritans envisioned displacement and/or extermination of the Indians as a solution. In the Virginia colony, Sir Thomas Dale led assaults to suppress the Powhatan Indians to facilitate the expansion of the colony. The brutal treatment of indigenous people had its roots in England’s colonization of Ireland, which encouraged future colonists to form isolated English communities in newly conquered