Bacons Rebellion

Jamestown had once been the active capital of the Colony of Virginia. Now it was a smoldering ruin, and
Nathaniel Bacon was on the run. Charismatic and courageous, he had spent the last several months
leading a growing group of rebels in a bloody battle against William Berkeley. Two main causes of
Bacons Rebellion were low tobacco prices and high taxes, and a grab of Native American land was
refused

The first main cause of Bacons Rebellion were high taxes and low tobacco prices. At the time, wealthy
settlers had built profitable tobacco plantations and used their crops to pay high colonial taxes, but for
poorer Virginians, times were lean. Only people who owned land could vote, and the indentured
servants and poorer Virginians who did not, felt disenfranchised. Poor farmers had been hit hard by
falling tobacco prices, and many on the borders of the colony’s frontier wanted to expand westward.
There, they faced threats from Native Americans intent on protecting their ancestral lands. When the
colonists called on their governor for military support, he refused. Berkeley had long tried to balance his
colonists’ wishes against those of the tribes on Virginia’s borders, but his attempts to appease all sides
failed.

The second main cause of Bacons Rebellion was that a grab of Native American land was denied. In
March 1676, after attacking a friendly tribe and falsely accusing them of stealing his corn, Bacon insisted
that the governor finance and support a militia to attack Native Americans on the colony’s border.
Berkeley refused, infuriating Bacon and he began to amass a militia of his own. Bacon's militia ended up
destroying an Occaneechi village including all its inhabitants. Berkeley responded by naming Bacon a
traitor. However, many colonists, especially servants and slaves, backed Bacon up and went to burn
down Jamestown.

In conclusion, the rebellion is significant in that it was the first to unite black and white indentured
servants with black slaves against the colonial government. New legislation resulted in the dissolution of
the indentured servant policy, an increase in the slave trade, the encouragement of the ideology of
white supremacy, and further loss of land and rights for Native Americans.