Bacon's Rebellion

According to the Colonial National Historical Park website, Bacon's Rebellion can be attributed to a myriad of causes. Economic problems, such as declining tobacco prices, growing commercial competition from Maryland and the Carolinas, an increasingly restricted English market, the rising prices from English manufactured goods caused problems for the Virginians. The problem with tobacco prices was the most significant problem. Throughout the 1660's, tobacco prices were low and Virginia planters struggled to show a profit because of cost of producing tobacco remained high despite the use of slave labor. These economic problems were compounded by the Virginia governor's unsuccessful efforts to defend the frontier against attacks by Native Americans. It has been suggested that Governor Berkeley refused to react to the claims that the Indians were committing murders and thefts on the frontier because he and his inner circle were making a profit trading with the Indians. These difficulties encouraged the colonists to find a scapegoat against whom they could vent their frustrations and place the blame for their misfortunes (McCulley).

According to the PBS website online, the Virginia colonists found their enemy or scapegoat in the form of the local Indians and the colonists found their leader in Nathaniel Bacon. Nathaniel Bacon was a young lawyer who had emigrated from London to become a planter in Virginia. He believed that all Indians were enemies of the colonists, a popular

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th English firms, high export duties levied by the Governor, and Governor Berkeley's monopoly of the fur trade with the Indians. Many of the men under Bacon's command were former indentured servants who had received land grants after completing their period of indentured service. These men had become convinced that Governor Berkeley's plans to protect them from Indian assaults were inadequate. The problem was that Bacon and his men made few distinctions among Indian tribes, killing friends and foes alike (Boone). According to the Boone Origins website, the results of the Rebellion were profound. Governor Berkeley was recalled to England. It prompted a change in the laws governing indentured agricultural labor. Ultimately, this evolved into a system of racially based slavery in America. According to Douglas Linder writing for the University of Missouri at Kansas City website, from June through September of 1692, nineteen men and women convicted of witchcraft were hanged in Salem Village. Another man was pressed to death under heavy stones for refusing to submit to a trial on witchcraft charges. Hundreds of others faced accusations of witchcraft, and dozens were jailed for months without trial. There were a number of reasons

Category: History - B