The English settlers in the American colonies were acting as independent states well before the American Revolution took place in 1775. There are numerous examples when the English colonist decided to act on their own accord and sometimes disobey direct orders of the crown. In this essay I will outline the numerous ways that the English colonist started to defy orders from the English crown and explain how it lead to the colonists fight for independence. Bacon’s Rebellion is an example of how the English settlers began to act as an independent nation. Bacon's rebellion began over land disputes in Virginia. Governor William Berkeley was representative of the English crown. Bacon and other backcountry farmers feared that local Indian tribes were going to raid these farmers. Governor Berkeley took a defensive strategy that the farmers disagreed with. In 1676, almost a hundred years prior to the revolution, the farmers gathered and attacked the Indians. Consequently, this lead to the farmers rebellion against the colony, the farmers believed that the governor wasn't trying to protect the people of the colony, the government was betraying its peoples trust. As a result, Bacon and his followers raided …show more content…
This angered the colonist since many died fighting for that land. The Crown created this line to prevent further fighting with between the Indians and the English settlers. The colonist took this as another sign that the crown cared more about the Indians than the colonist. A small group of colonist saw this and acted in anger. They became known as the Paxton Boys, unprovoked, they raided a small Christian Indian village and killed about half a dozen Indians. They continued to raid other small tribes and were finally met with an opposing force in Philadelphia. Although this expedition was confined to a couple hundred men, it was a stance of independence and defiance against the British
By keeping friendly Indians as allies, there would be a smaller amount of people to fight, since Bacon’s policy probably would’ve started an alliance between the Powhatan and Susquehannock Indians. Additionally, by keeping local Indians friendly, the Indians could be used as spies, buffers, and allies, providing a tactical advantage. Also, Berkeley had actual funding that he could use to fight the Indians, while Bacon was bankrupt himself. These reasons prove that Berkeley’s plan would be more
Virginia was facing many social issues with the emergence of a ruling class. For that reason, Bacon was able to gain support from disgruntled poor whites and indentured blacks. Bacon led a campaign against the Indians and the Virginia government with his militia of lower class citizens. 2. This document was signed during this organized rebellion on July 30, 1676.
The militia was comprised of farmers who preferred the option of a war of massacre over being hurt by low tobacco prices and high taxes. The fight against Native Americans initiated in 1676, and encountered solely nonviolent Indians, but the group slaughtered them regardless. Bacon and his supporters demanded the power to declare war against all Native Americans, and received such authority from a daunted Governor Berkeley. Shortly after, Berkeley reconsidered his decision and called back the troop, but Bacon’s men retaliated by burning the capital of Jamestown and spared whoever joined the rebellion. However, in late 1676 Bacon died of dysentery; his cohorts dispersed and their actions
Great question! I get the impression that Bacon was a spoiled brat who wanted to become powerful and rich. It appears that he wanted to increase his wealth with more land and the only way he could acquire this land was to eradicate the Indians. I assume that he resented the fact that Berkeley never fully accepted him into the elite inner circle. Bacon decided the way to gain power and to change the laws for his own advantage was to remove Berkeley and his supporters.
The colonists were taking the Native American's property and taking advantage of the native Americans in the trade by getting them drunk so they could get more land. King Philip, the religious leader the Native Americans.
In July 1676, Bacon issued the Declaration of the People of Virginia, a list of complaints against Berkeley. Berkeley tried to rally public support by holding new assembly elections and extending the vote to all freemen, but the new assembly went against the governor, instead passing laws to make government more responsive to the common people and to end greedy office holding (Nash 59). In September 1676, Bacon’s men drove the governor and his supporters across Chesapeake Bay to refuge on the eastern shore and burned Jamestown to the ground to discourage their return. A few weeks later, Bacon suddenly died of dysentery, leaving the movement leaderless. Soon thereafter, an English naval squadron arrived to restore order (Garraty 43).
The British put restrictions on trade, manufacturing and settlement. The cons of the Bacon's Rebellion was that African slavery took off and became popular in America due to the rebellion of former Indentured slaves. It stated, “The permanent deprivation of freedom and the separate legal status of enslaved Africans facilitated the maintenance of strict racial barriers.” Not only were black and whites separated but now there is a distinction between
Social change occured as tensions boiled between the rebels and local Native Americans. The Paxton Boys and their efforts resulted in a lot of geographical change with the numerous conflicts with the Native Americans. Most of the attacks resulted in Native American land being taken by force. Towards the end of the rebellion, in January 1764, 250 Paxton Boys marched to
Likewise, in Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676, unruly frontiersmen rebelled against the wealthy governor William Berkeley, showing friction between impoverished frontiersmen and the wealthy, plantation-owning gentry. In both instances, the lower class initiated the uprisings because of their discontent with those who governed them. It is important to note, though, that in the Pueblo Revolt the tensions were between people indigenous to the land and those who came to colonize the land whereas in Bacon’s Rebellion the tensions were mostly between colonists. Both events were struggles between those who govern and their subordinates, but the backgrounds and precursors to these instances of friction
In Zinn 's book, Nathaniel Bacon is described as a manipulative man, who persuaded the gullible to agree with his ideas and values. The rebellion itself was because Bacon hated both the elite and the indians, and after he was released from prison for being a rebel, he took his 'army ' and began attacking innocent indians. After Bacon had died, Zinn includes the fact that the anti-rebel forces tricked Bacon 's militia into thinking that if they surrendered, the slaves and servants (who made up most of the rebels) would be given freedom. Instead, they took them back to their masters. The governemt strived to stop the rebellion for two reasons: to make a policy to control indians, and to discourage rebellion in the future.
During the 1650s, Virginia had land that had became available for colonial settlement because of the removal of an Indian Tribe. The Meherrin took this opportunity and distributed among the land. However, controversies arose over the colonial boundary lines between Virginia and North Carolina. As a result of the disputes over the land, the Meherrin were attacked during Bacon's Rebellion. To settle their
One of the more well-known and documented acts of political violence started in the colonial era when “Nathaniel Bacon and a sizable number of Virginians rose up in armed rebellion against the royal governor of the colony in 1676.” (Britanica) It was the result of Bacon and the then Gov. Berkeley having two different viewpoints about Indians and colony expansion. Berkeley did not want to remove the Indians for fear of war with the Indians as well as trade being interrupted. Berkeley eventually “launched military expeditions against Bacon” (Britanica) and his colonialists.
Nathaniel Bacon considered the Native Americans to be enemies and dangerous, so he wanted to take them out, which meant going against the government. It was not very hard for Bacon to get an army together. He was a very persuasive man when it came to getting what he
Like many Africans, the Irish and Germans involuntarily became servants, as they were also kidnapped. The black and the whites shared a number of similarities, such as exploitation and abuse. Causing a sense between the two. Escaping together, and rebelling against their masters. Accordingly, Bacon’s Rebellion occurred in Virginia.
King Philips War and Bacon’s Rebellion were two pivotal points in early American history. Ironically, they both shared many similarities between them. There are three main points of discussion in comparison of the two conflicts: 1) why the fighting started, 2) what they were fighting over, and finally 3) who they were fighting against. Each of these conflicts resulted in tragic loss of many lives of settlers and Indians and caused even more tension between the English and the Native Americans.