Bacon's Rebellion
- Nathanial Bacon Organizes a Militia. In response to Berkeley's inaction, farmers led by Nathaniel Bacon organized a militia to attack the Native Americans.
- The Burning of Jamestown. Once Bacon left Jamestown, Berkeley ordered the arrest of Bacon and his followers. ...
- Death of Nathaniel Bacon and Impact of the Rebellion. ...
Why did Bacon lead a rebellion?
Bacon’s Rebellion, popular revolt in colonial Virginia in 1676, led by Nathaniel Bacon. Caused by high taxes, low prices for tobacco, and resentment against special privileges given those close to the governor, Sir William Berkeley. When he attempted to take his seat, Berkeley had him arrested. What impact did Bacon’s Rebellion have on Virginia?
What are some effects of Bacon's Rebellion?
The Effects of Bacon's Rebellion. Bacon's Rebellion also impacted the colonies economically. Taxes were reduced in the colonies . There were lots of efforts to improve the image of those who governed Virginia. Freemen were given their rights back to them. Colonists were also glad that there had been an adoption of a more aggressive Indian policy.
What were the causes of Bacon's Rebellion?
Nathaniel Bacon led an armed revolt against the government of Governor William Berkeley because of:
- A lack of retaliatory action against Indian attacks on western farmers
- Declining tobacco prices coupled with excessive taxation policies that favored the wealthy,
- Accusations of government corruption and favoritism towards the emerging planter elite in Virginia.
Was Bacons rebellion a justified revolution?
Bacon’s Rebellion Is a Justified Revolution (1676) by Nathaniel Bacon (1647-1676) If virtue be a sin, if piety be guilt, all the principles of morality, goodness and justice be perverted, we must confess that those who are now called rebels may be in danger of those high imputations. Those loud and several bulls would affright innocents
What was Bacon's rebellion and what was its outcome?
Bacon's Rebellion in 1676 was the last major uprising of enslaved blacks and white indentured servants in Colonial Virginia. One consequence of the failed rebellion was the intensification of African slavery and the social separation of blacks and whites in Virginia.
What were the effects of Bacon's rebellion?
The rebellion is significant in that it was the first to unite black and white indentured servants with black slaves against the colonial government, and, in response, the government established policies to ensure nothing like it would happen again.
What is the significance of the Bacon rebellion?
Bacon's Rebellion was the most serious challenge to royal authority before the American Revolution. Historians often connect this event to the decline of indentured servitude and the corresponding rise of slavery within the British American colonies.
What was Bacon's rebellion and why did it happen?
Bacon's Rebellion, fought from 1676 to 1677, began with a local dispute with the Doeg Indians on the Potomac River. Chased north by Virginia militiamen, who also attacked the otherwise uninvolved Susquehannocks, the Indians began raiding the Virginia frontier.
Why was Bacon's rebellion a turning point?
Bacon's Rebellion changes that, and what seems to be crucial in changing that is the consolidation after Bacon's Rebellion of a planter class. The planters had not been able to control this rowdy labor force of servants and slaves.
How did Bacon's rebellion affect the economy?
Bacon's rebellion had a huge impact on racial issues in the colonies. Bacon's Rebellion also impacted the colonies economically. Taxes were reduced in the colonies. There were lots of efforts to improve the image of those who governed Virginia.
What was the result of Bacon's Rebellion quizlet?
What was the outcome of bacon's rebellion? RACE: Plantation owners gradually replaced indentured servants with African slaves and became the primary labor forces, creating a cruel institution in the American colonies.
Was Bacon's Rebellion justified?
Many historians believe Bacon's Rebellion was unjustified and wrong, but many other historians believe his actions are benevolent. Bacon's attack on the Natives is correct because the government was neglecting the citizens, teaching Natives the use of firearms, and the Natives stealing major crops from the citizens.
How did Bacon's Rebellion foreshadow the American Revolution?
In many ways, Bacon's rebellion was an accurate precursor to the revolution because it showed how settlers would respond with revolt after failing to pressure the colonial government.
How did Bacon's Rebellion transform labor systems in Virginia?
How did Bacon's Rebellion transform labor systems in Virginia? It influenced planters to abandon indentured servants in favor of slaves. Why did Charles I restore the Virginia assembly? He needed tobacco revenues and the support of Virginia's planters.
Which economic factors led to Bacon's Rebellion?
A picture of economic hardship and the mixing of the lower classes show that Bacon's Rebellion was about creating better living conditions. The evidence shows that when the price of tobacco plummeted and taxes increased, the small planter-farmer and merchants suffered the most.
What was one effect of Bacon's Rebellion quizlet?
What was the outcome of bacon's rebellion? RACE: Plantation owners gradually replaced indentured servants with African slaves and became the primary labor forces, creating a cruel institution in the American colonies.
What were the causes and consequences of Bacon's Rebellion quizlet?
Caused by high taxes, low prices for tobacco, and resentment against special privileges given those close to the governor, Sir William Berkeley. The rebellion was precipitated by Berkeley's failure to defend the frontier against attacks by Native Americans.
What was the significance of Bacon's Rebellion quizlet?
What was the significance of Bacon's Rebellion? It was the first rebellion in the American Colonies in which the frontiersmen took part. Also, it hastened the hardening of racial lines dealing with slavery, because this rebellion involved both black and white indentured servants which worried the ruling class.
How did Bacon's Rebellion transform labor systems in Virginia?
How did Bacon's Rebellion transform labor systems in Virginia? It influenced planters to abandon indentured servants in favor of slaves. Why did Charles I restore the Virginia assembly? He needed tobacco revenues and the support of Virginia's planters.
What was the primary influence of Bacon’s Rebellion on the labor system in the colony of Virginia?
The rebellion caused a new demand for enslaved African labor
Which of the following is not a true statement about the growing cultivation of tobacco in Virginia in the 1600s
The high demand for tobacco and limited American supply created a stable high-value commodity to be sold in European Market
Which of the following was not a form of political corruption used by Governor Berkeley to consolidate his power?
He used his wealth to monetarily bribe wage laborers to vote for policies he preferred
Which group instigated the first violent outburst that lead to rebellion?
A group of vigilante settlers created a militia and attacked a Susquenhannock village
Which Act passed by the British Parliament exacerbated the economic issues affecting the tobacco industry in Virginia?
The Navigation Acts
Which of the following was an unintended consequence of the Navigation Acts on the tobacco industry in Virginia?
The lack of trade to other nations increased their own production of tobacco, driving down the price of American tobacco
Which of the following is not true of Nathaniel Bacon?
He was appointed as a justice of the peace by the Governor, which gave him control of the local militia
Which of the following was an unintended consequence of Bacon’s Rebellion?
The wealthy planter-merchants began using fewer indentured servants, increasing the demand for enslaved African labor
What were the causes of Bacon's Rebellion?
Bacon's Rebellion can be attributed to a myriad of causes, all of which led to dissent in the Virginia colony. Economic problems, such as declining tobacco prices, growing commercial competition from Maryland and the Carolinas, an increasingly restricted English market, and the rising prices from English manufactured goods (mercantilism) caused problems for the Virginians. There were heavy English losses in the latest series of naval wars with the Dutch and, closer to home, there were many problems caused by weather. Hailstorms, floods, dry spells, and hurricanes rocked the colony all in the course of a year and had a damaging effect on the colonists. These difficulties encouraged the colonists to find a scapegoat against whom they could vent their frustrations and place the blame for their misfortunes.
Who was the antagonist of Bacon's Rebellion?
The central figures in Bacon's Rebellion were opposites. Governor Sir William Berkeley, seventy when the crisis began, was a veteran of the English Civil Wars, a frontier Indian fighter, a King's favorite in his first term as Governor in the 1640's, and a playwright and scholar. His name and reputation as Governor of Virginia were well respected. Berkeley's antagonist, young Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., was actually Berkeley's cousin by marriage. Lady Berkeley, Frances Culpeper, was Bacon's cousin. Bacon was a troublemaker and schemer whose father sent him to Virginia in the hope that he would mature. Although disdainful of labor, Bacon was intelligent and eloquent. Upon Bacon's arrival, Berkeley treated his young cousin with respect and friendship, giving him both a substantial land grant and a seat on the council in 1675.
Why was Bacon's fleet captured?
This was to be the turning point in the conflict, because Berkeley was once again strong enough to retake Jamestown. Bacon then followed his sinking fortunes to Jamestown and saw it heavily fortified.
How many men did Bacon have in the forest?
Upon Berkeley's arrival, Bacon fled into the forest with 200 men in search of a place more to his liking for a meeting. Berkeley then issued two petitions declaring Bacon a rebel and pardoning Bacon's men if they went home peacefully.
Why did Bacon go to Virginia?
Bacon was a troublemaker and schemer whose father sent him to Virginia in the hope that he would mature. Although disdainful of labor, Bacon was intelligent and eloquent. Upon Bacon's arrival, Berkeley treated his young cousin with respect and friendship, giving him both a substantial land grant and a seat on the council in 1675.
What was the first stirring of revolutionary sentiment in America?
For many years, historians considered the Virginia Rebellion of 1676 to be the first stirring of revolutionary sentiment in America, which culminated in the American Revolution almost exactly one hundred years later.
How many people were hanged for their part in the rebellion?
He also seized rebel property without the benefit of a trial. All in all, twenty-three persons were hanged for their part in the rebellion.
What was the cause of Bacon's Rebellion?
Bacon’s Rebellion, fought from 1676 to 1677, began with a local dispute with the Doeg Indians on the Potomac River. Chased north by Virginia militiamen, who also attacked the otherwise uninvolved Susquehannocks, the Indians began raiding the Virginia frontier. The governor, Sir William Berkeley, persauded the General Assembly to adopt a plan ...
What did Bacon do to the Susquehannocks?
As if he were attempting to live up to that assessment, Bacon proceeded without a commission, pursuing the Susquehannocks to the Roanoke River. There he persuaded the Occaneechi nation, which had long been an important partner in the Virginia trade in skins, furs, and Indian slaves, to attack the Susquehannocks.
Why did Bacon build frontier forts?
Bacon’s success came largely because of his ability to direct these people’s fear and anger toward two targets: Indians and Berkeley, who was, according to Bacon’s wife, Elizabeth Duke Bacon, “the Indians’ friend and our enemy.” Although Virginia’s elites were divided over the rebellion and provided the leadership for both sides, small planters who were disproportionately threatened by the Indian war and burdened by taxes tended to lean toward Bacon’s side in the conflict.
What happened to Bacon's quarter?
When the Indian raids reached as far south as the falls of the James River and the overseer at one of Bacon’s properties, known as Bacon’s Quarter, was killed, Bacon’s sympathies forever shifted away from the governor and Council and toward those who wanted immediate action against the Indians. Susquehannock Indian.
What happened to Nathaniel Bacon?
Nathaniel Bacon, in the midst of leading a rebellion against the governor of Virginia, dies of dysentery at the house of Thomas Pate in Gloucester County. Joseph Ingram takes command of the rebel troops.
Who did Bacon hunt?
After a halfhearted gesture toward the Occaneechis and Susquehannocks, whose location was a mystery at this point, Bacon went in hunt of the Pamunkey Indians.
When did Bacon die?
Bacon died suddenly in October 1676, but bitter fighting continued into January. The Crown dispatched troops to Virginia, which arrived shortly after the rebellion had been quelled. The causes of Bacon’s Rebellion have long been disputed.
Terms
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Source of the author's information
T.H. Breen, Myne Own Ground: Race and Freedom on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, 1640-1676 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980); T.H. Breen, “A Changing Labor Force and Race Relations in Virginia, 1600-1710, Journal of Social History, Volume 7, No. 1, 1975; Theodore Allen, “They Would Destroy Me,” Radical America, Volume 9, Number 3, 1973.
Bacon's Rebellion - Key takeaways
Social unrest in the Virginia Colony was due to the social and economic imbalance between the wealthy plantation owners and the former servants, tenant farmers, and wage laborers.
Bacon's Rebellion definition and summary
Bacon’s Rebellion was a violent political, social, and economic protest by poor tenant farmers of Virginia from 1675 to 1676 in response to growing tensions with the wealthy elite of the colony, lack of expansion into Indigenous lands, corruption in the government, increased taxes, and removal of voting rights.
Bacon's Rebellion causes
In the late 1600s, long-standing social conflicts flared into political turmoil as the tobacco economy, on which the colonies depended, fluctuated. Falling tobacco prices signalled an imbalanced market.
Why did Bacon lead the rebellion?
Nathaniel Bacon led an armed revolt against the government of Governor William Berkeley because of: A lack of retaliatory action against Indian attacks on western farmers.
What was the catalyst for Bacon's Rebellion?
These constricting policies ultimately became a catalyst for Bacon’s Rebellion against Governor Berkeley and the government of Virginia. Berkeley favored tolerant and almost passive policies towards Indians by limiting armed retaliation against natives. Bacon and his followers leveled three major complaints at Governor Berkeley’s stewardship ...
What led Bacon to organize his own raiding parties and defy Berkeley's orders?
Berkeley’s refusal to sanction retaliation against the local tribes led Bacon to organize his own raiding parties and defy Berkeley’s orders. Bacon’s Rebellion had begun. Bacon led a growing army in attacking local tribes in the spring and summer of 1676 and was quickly becoming extremely popular as the defender of the western farmer.
What were the three major complaints that Bacon and his followers leveled at Governor Berkeley’s stewardship?
These complaints were: Berkeley restricted how much land the western farmers could cultivate for crops. Berkley had restrictive trade policies which hurt western farmers.
What accusations did the planter elite in Virginia have?
Accusations of government corruption and favoritism towards the emerging planter elite in Virginia.
Why did the Virginia House of Burgesses restrict the vote of landless free white men?
By 1670, the Virginia House of Burgesses had restricted the vote of landless free white men who now made up more than half of the population in an effort to quell the growing voices of dissent.
What was the most lucrative colony in the 1675s?
By 1675, Virginia had become England’s most lucrative American colony, exporting more than 10 million pounds of tobacco annually.
What was the purpose of Bacon's Rebellion?
In Bacon’s Rebellion, Black and white workers and farmers united to fight for their common interests. Although their 1676 rebellion failed, and was compromised by their own racist violence against indigenous people, their example hints at what is possible when different groups of workers unite. If all workers who are exploited and oppressed by the system were to unite in rebellion, we would be a powerful force that could overcome today’s ruling class.
What was Bacon's goal in the Rebellion?
This portion of the rebellion saw white farmers attack and put on the run government leaders, and was guided by Bacon’s goal of forcing the government to help settlers push the indigenous people out of Virginia. It is without a doubt repulsive to learn of the racist nature of the settlers’ attacks on the indigenous people.
What was Bacon's army?
Bacon’s “army” consisted of many poor whites (both freed and bonded) and poor Blacks (freed, bonded, and enslaved). Poor white and Black workers and farmers joined together in a revolt against the colonial regime and big landowners responsible for their exploitation and impoverishment. Even when Bacon died, they persisted in their rebellion, ...
What was the class division between the wealthy ruling class and the masses of farmers and workers?
The class division between the wealthy ruling class and the masses of farmers and workers had already led to a handful of small revolts since 1663. But in the years leading up to 1676, tensions had sharpened not only because class inequalities, but also because of the perceived indifference of the ruling class to the situation ...
What was the catalyst for the creation of race in the United States?
In this way Bacon’s Rebellion was the catalyst for the creation of “race” in the United States. The next three hundred years witnessed the violent exploitation and oppression of Black people in the United States: first as slaves, then as destitute sharecroppers and tenant farmers, then as a super-oppressed, super-exploited group ...
How many people were in the last rebel group?
The last group of one hundred rebel holdouts consisted of eighty Black people and twenty English. Their cause undoubtedly denied indigenous people’s rights.
What would happen if black and white workers united again?
If white and Black workers could unite again in the future, they could easily overthrow the government and planter aristocracy , which was of course only a small minority of the population. They had to find a way to make sure it never happened again.
Significance
Characters
Causes
- Bacon's Rebellion can be attributed to a myriad of causes, all of which led to dissent in the Virginia colony. Economic problems, such as declining tobacco prices, growing commercial competition from Maryland and the Carolinas, an increasingly restricted English market, and the rising prices from English manufactured goods (mercantilism) caused problems for the Virginians. There wer…
Aftermath
- To stave off future attacks and to bring the situation under control, Governor Berkeley ordered an investigation into the matter. He set up what was to be a disastrous meeting between the parties, which resulted in the murders of several tribal chiefs. Throughout the crisis, Berkeley continually pleaded for restraint from the colonists. Some, including Bacon, refused to listen. Nathaniel Bac…
Criticism
- The Long Assembly was accused of corruption because of its ruling regarding trade with the Indians. Not coincidentally, most of the favored traders were friends of Berkeley. Regular traders, some of whom had been trading independently with the local Indians for generations, were no longer allowed to trade individually. A government commission was established to monitor tradi…
Prelude
- After Bacon drove the Pamunkeys from their nearby lands in his first action, Berkeley exercised one of the few instances of control over the situation that he was to have, by riding to Bacon's headquarters at Henrico with 300 \"well armed\" gentlemen. Upon Berkeley's arrival, Bacon fled into the forest with 200 men in search of a place more to his ...
Leadership
- Bacon refused. Berkeley granted Bacon's previous volunteer commission but Bacon refused it and demanded that he be made General of all forces against the Indians, which Berkeley emphatically refused and walked away. Tensions ran high as the screaming Bacon and his men surrounded the statehouse, threatening to shoot several onlooking Burgesses if Bacon was not given his commi…
Death
- On October 26th, 1676, Bacon abruptly died of the \"Bloodie Flux\" and \"Lousey Disease\" (body lice). It is possible his soldiers burned his contaminated body because it was never found. (His death inspired this little ditty; Bacon is Dead I am sorry at my hart That lice and flux should take the hangman's part\".)
Analysis
- Thus ended one of the most unusual and complicated chapters in Jamestown's history. Could it have been prevented or was it time for inevitable changes to take place in the colonial governmental structure? Obviously, the laws were no longer effective as far as establishing clear policies to deal with problems or to instill new lifeblood into the colony's economy. The numerou…
Sources
- Neville, John Davenport. Bacon's Rebellion. Abstracts of Materials in the Colonial Records Project. Jamestown: Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. Washburn, Wilcomb E. The Governor and the Rebel. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1957. Webb, Stephen Saunders. 1676-The End of American Independence. New York: Alfred A. Knope, 1984.