Introduction
Bacon's Rebellion played a vital role in defining the United States present. The events before the rebellion were clear indications of an eventual uprising. There was a clear division of groups that also made the rebellion happen. Then the actual reasons of why the rebellion happened were enough to peak the tension. With a strong leader and a group of yeomen and slaves, some considered this rebellion the first American Revolution.
Groups
The first group and most important group of the rebellion were the yeoman farmers who played an extremely important role in developing our country. The yeoman farmers in this case were the indentured servants who were being taken advantage of by the wealthy class and had numbers but not wealth. Once the indentured servants paid their dues the owners of the servants gave them the least profitable land you could obtain. The land they received was not ready to be farmed and was on the outskirts of the cities. Adding to the uselessness of the land, the natives of the area would refuse to give up territorial rights and in return harassed the farmers. The yeomen were extremely persecuted before the rebellion with numerous issues. The yeoman made up most of the rebellion and played a very important role in the rebellion.
Leading up to the rebellion there wasn’t an issue of race isolating slavery. Therefore there wasn’t as much division amongst the rebellion group. Both sides of the conflict promised slaves freedom however Bacon had convinced most of the slaves on his side. The division of wealth in this society was the uniting cause of the rebellion and poor whites and poor blacks united together to fight for this cause.
The higher class was the other side of the rebellion. The higher class was a division of society that made up most the wealth and owned most of the land. The head of this class was the Virginia governor William Berkeley. There was a clear division of wealth in this society and Berkeley added to this by giving the valuable land to the wealthy and helping the wealth maintain and gain capital.
Nathaniel Bacon was the other important key role in this rebellion. His leadership helped unite the poor into revolting against the rich. Bacon was the nephew of the wife of Berkeley, which made things even more complicated. Once Bacon moved to Virginia, Berkeley gave him invaluable land. This upset Bacon, and things began to unfold into a rebellion.
The natives of this land were vital in causing this rebellion to start. This was almost a jumpstart into the rebellion because of the negative relationship they had with the farmers.
Leading up to the rebellion there wasn’t an issue of race isolating slavery. Therefore there wasn’t as much division amongst the rebellion group. Both sides of the conflict promised slaves freedom however Bacon had convinced most of the slaves on his side. The division of wealth in this society was the uniting cause of the rebellion and poor whites and poor blacks united together to fight for this cause.
The higher class was the other side of the rebellion. The higher class was a division of society that made up most the wealth and owned most of the land. The head of this class was the Virginia governor William Berkeley. There was a clear division of wealth in this society and Berkeley added to this by giving the valuable land to the wealthy and helping the wealth maintain and gain capital.
Nathaniel Bacon was the other important key role in this rebellion. His leadership helped unite the poor into revolting against the rich. Bacon was the nephew of the wife of Berkeley, which made things even more complicated. Once Bacon moved to Virginia, Berkeley gave him invaluable land. This upset Bacon, and things began to unfold into a rebellion.
The natives of this land were vital in causing this rebellion to start. This was almost a jumpstart into the rebellion because of the negative relationship they had with the farmers.
Reasons
There were clear reasons why the rebellion started. However the overall reason for the event was because of the division of wealth. The poor were held to low status and did not get much representation and say in what happened in the establishment. The taxes that were being put into to place were not benefiting them in any way. The taxes were to protect the wealth of the upper class and provide comfort in what they already had. The poor wanted a system where they received some protection from Indian where their farms were. Because of lack of protection, the natives of the land attacked the yeoman farmers, which in return asked the government, put in place by England and was headed by Berkeley to do something about this issue. Since no law or protection was given the farmers decided to protect fight back and this resulted in natives dying. This is important because it united the poor into already being violent and thus resulted in them turning this violence on the oppression they received from the wealthy. To add to the oppression they were being cut short in the contracts of indentured servitude by receiving land in the wild where natives were occupying. The purpose of a governing party is to provide stability and protection, the governing party in Virginia wasn’t granting these rights to the people. The last key piece of the rebellion was Bacon himself. He was the uniting factor in starting the rebellion. With the bitterness of being played down by Berkeley, his cousin, he organized an army to help fight for the cause of freedom for the farmers. He organized attacks on natives to secure land and add protection from native attacks. Berkeley did not approve of these attacks fearing war so he stripped Bacon’s title and arrested him. This did not settle well with the army and they later secured his release. This rebellion was a clear example of what happens when there is a division of wealth and oppression to the poor. With number on the side of the poor, this was a extremely influential revolutionary uprising which seems small to American Revolution but it has the same conviction in which the government is for the people and if it is not upholding the citizens rights the people can rise up and destroy the government. This is a very strong ideal, which comes up through many parts of history.