Bacon's Rebellion: Victim Or Villain?

In this document Bacon declares himself General by the consent of the people and asserts that Governor Sir William Berkeley and his supporters have used their power to commit crimes against the people of Virginia and the English Crown. The document cites eight grievances related to unjust taxes, inadequate protection from the Indians, and government corruption. Bacon calls for the immediate surrender or capture of Berkeley and 23

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.

In this specific case, Berkeley was the monarch who ruled the colony, but the neglect of all the people caused an unsuccessful government. . Because of the many different types of people from different backgrounds in the colony, the neglect of one could lead to rebellion against the government. This led to democracy being one of the best ways to keep the diverse people of the colonies under control. Democracy, in theory, allows each person to have a say in government, increasing the overall satisfaction of the people and allowing the people as one body to rule themselves. Early in the history of the colonies, Bacon showed people that not only did he disagree with government, but without a more democratic government representative of all the people and the types of people in the colonies, his rebellion would not be the

This caused President George Washington to call out the nation militia to shut everything down. Many farmers were arrested but then were pardoned or pledged not guilty. Overall, when owning yourself and sticking up for what you believe in makes you a true rebel. Alice Paul and the farmers in the Whiskey Rebellion, went against what they believed to be inequitable and stood up for what they gave credence to.

While being on the council, Bacon abused his powers by disobeying orders from Berkeley, forcing people to fight for him, and later on, burning Jamestown, certainly fitting the definition of a traitor. Governor Berkeley gave very specific orders and disliked when others disobeyed them. When Bacon saw that Berkeley did not

The Governor, Sir William Berkley did not help the English settlers because he had a secret alliance with the Native Americans. In the article it stated, “Colonists denounced the government as a corrupt band of oligarchs more interested in lining their pockets than protecting the people.”

(McCulley, 1987) Historians have found out that the real issue that caused Nathaniel Bacon’s rebellion was his stubbornness, selfishness and as well as, the unlucky choices and decisions Governor Sir William Berkeley made for appointment. People may specifically point fingers to a number of reasons for Bacon's rebellion, they may include the following: economic problems, competition

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.

By 1644 Virginia pacified the Native American in the western part, that’s the part that is away from the coast, and the established the line and told the Native Americans to stay on the side, and the English colonist will stay on the other side. However, this leads to a period of rapid growth in Virginia, between 1640 and 1660 the population of Virginia went up from 8000 to 40000, so that means Virginia finds a lot of success. On the other hand, Berkeley at once will team up with the large landowners to try to prevent new large landowners from gaining power and at the same times he will start having secret deals to trade. Aphra Behn, the prolific English playwright and novelist, retells the 1676 events of the colonial uprising in Virginia known as Bacon 's Rebellion, adding a fictional romantic story about the love between an Indian Queen, Semernia, and the colonist Nathaniel Bacon in her play The Widow Ranter, performed and published posthumously. It all starts with an unhappy Jamestown, their taxes were too high and their income of selling tobacco was too low, the Indian attacks were too frequent.

They tried to destroy Boston, Massachusetts. They initiated their own military government of a Thomas Gage, and starved the city of their right to gather. As if we will break so easily. But the King, never one for mercy, did not just stop there. Our northern neighbors were reward at our expense.

Rebellion is the voice of the unsatisfied, the oppressed, and the messengers of change. The people of the United States want to separate from the British monarchy that controls them. In the Declaration of independence, Thomas Jefferson encourages the rebellion against King George and the pursuit of what the colonists have been denied for so many years. Jefferson believes that a rebellion is justifiable when an oppressive figure inhibits one from exercising one’s natural rights. Jefferson uses suffering-related diction and logical appeal to justify the defiance of restrictive government.

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.

The result of the Bacon’s Rebellion made a establishment of hierarchies based on class, but hidden by race. The Bacon’s Rebellion had to do with the environment because there was a significant deal of social mobility, but this gave the colonist anxiety. The colonists faced lack of stability and an uncertain future, plus a chance of social mobility. Therefore, this became a conflict as individuals fought for nature's

Although the truth reality here is the roots of the rebellion of the 13 colonies start from the beginning of the establishment of colonies. According to the lecture 10, “in 1660 through the first series of Navigation Acts, the English parliament sets the rules for how the people in the 13 colonies would live their lives”. This was one of the reasons of the rebellion of the 13 colonies, because the colonies they want to have they own rules and live their lives according to the rules that favoring each colony no only England. The acts that created the parliament was only to benefit England, because specify how the colonies behave between them and the mother land. The colonies beginning to get tired of the England rules and they want a change.

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.