Rebellion Before the American Revolution

The Virginia Company of London, a private corporation formed in 1606 to colonize Virginia, founded its first settlement in 1607 at Jamestown, in a protected inlet on the James River (Blow 71). Though the company did not fare well financially, the colony prospered and expanded, adding several new villages. The colonists initially enjoyed good relations with Native Americans, but that changed as they increasingly encroached on Indian land. On Good Friday in 1622, Native Americans led by Opechancanough massacred several hundred colonists. From that day forward, the colonist resolved to annihilate any Native Americans who stood in their way (Blow 82).

Virginians, with no help coming form the company, turned to the English government for assistance, receiving old armor and weapons from London (peace would prevail on the frontier for two decades). In 1624, the King dissolved the failing Virginia Company of London a

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er to one-half of a planterÆs income (Webb 19). In a bad year, many struggled to survive, and the 1660s and 1670s saw many bad years. A devastating hurricane (in 1667) and an epidemic that claimed half the colonyÆs cattle (1672-73) added to VirginiaÆs economic woes (Blow 177). Those woes, coupled with BerkeleyÆs oppressive and unfair tax system, prompted three tax revolts in the 1660s and 1670s. The second generation of settlers-the yeoman farmers-had become restive as their opportunities declined. Wars with the Dutch and the Plantations Act of 1673, which strengthened the English monopoly on the tobacco trade (to the detriment of the yeoman farmer), only increased economic turmoil (Webb 15). Meanwhile, expansion had been halted by the ôthe fall-line frontier of powerful native nationsö created by BerkeleyÆs policy of separation. The yeoman farmers also felt oppressed by a political system that was dominated by Berkeley and his cronies, both at the colonial and the county level. Berkeley had seen to that by pushing through legislation that limited the franchise to those who owned a minimum amount of land (Hawke 244). BerkeleyÆs political machine, built by intermarriage and the spoils system, was complete (Simmons 77). B
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Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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