Bacon's Rebellion: Body; Rough Draft

Bacon's Rebellion
Body: Rough Draft

[At the time of Bacon’s Rebellion, Nathaniel Bacon was searching for an opportunity to gain political control.] Bacon was a greedy and arrogant man who was withdrawn from Cambridge University and sent to the New World by his father after he was discovered in a plan to defraud a neighbor of his inheritance. Bacon had a wealthy and well-connected uncle, also named Nathaniel Bacon, who was a member of the Governor’s Council. Using his connections, his uncle presented him with a position on the Governor’s Council and soon had a reputation as “the most accomplished man in the colony.” He was described by the Royal Commissioners’ Report to be “of a most imperious and dangerous hidden pride of heart, despising the wisest of his neighbors for their ignorance, and very ambitious and arrogant.” However, this distinguished position was not enough for him and he made the decision to exploit the frustrations of poorer farmers against the social elite using the political system for their own benefits rather than protecting them against attacking Indians. Bacon had a magnetic and confident personality as well as being a powerful orator which he used to his advantage as he gained support from the lower classes. He gained their respect and admiration by making the decision to implore Governor Berkeley for a commission to fight neighboring hostile Indian tribes. However, when Governor Berkeley refused because an attack would hurt his own economic endeavors, Bacon’s “dangerous” pride was hurt and he instead ignored the governor’s wishes and organized his own army consisting of five hundred men and went to fight the Indians. This decision of blatant rebellion gained Bacon immense popularity among the lower class of Virginia society and began an assault against Berkeley. Berkeley showed a lack of foresight in dealing with the rebellious Bacon and failed to control the situation of political turmoil. When Berkeley called for a re-election of Virginia’s assembly, the House of Burgesses, it backfired when Bacon and his followers were voted into power. This resulted in a cat and mouse game between the rebellious Bacon and his band and the Governor and his forces as Bacon laid siege on the capital of Jamestown.


[The aftermath of the rebellion resulted in a change in the political make-up of Chesapeake Society.] Bacon’s Rebellion collapsed when the instigator of the rebellion, Nathaniel Bacon, died of fever in October 1676. Without the support of the power-seeking Bacon to fuel his rebellious band of followers, the rebellion simply lost its determination, which would be evidence for the idea that the cause behind the Rebellion was purely magnified and distorted by the powerful orator, Bacon. The laws that were enacted during Bacon’s short stint in the House of Burgesses remained a permanent part of the Virginia Colony despite attempts by Governor Berkeley to repeal the laws. They were actually repealed by Governor Berkeley for a short time after the collapse of Bacon’s Rebellion, but most were restored in the February of 1677. The laws known as “Bacon’s Laws” were reforms to the political system that improved the political power of the lower classes and reduced the power of the social elite. They guaranteed rights such as voting for all freemen, the election of the vestry, representation in taxation and the abolishment of holding more than one office. Ironically, it is very doubtful that Bacon had any influence or decision making with these laws; rather they were likely written by Richard Lawrence and William Drummond, who were two supporters of Bacon that were elected to the House of Burgesses in 1676. Before these laws had been put in place, the political system had been dominated by the social elite, namely the very wealthy farmers, and there had been little outlet for the voice of the common class. It proves that, despite the fact that Bacon had rallied up the rebellion for the improvement of his own political situation, Bacon’s Rebellion resulted in the improvement of the entire colony’s political situation and made the government more accessible and adjustable to the public. Additionally, Bacon’s Rebellion caused the British Crown to order a royal investigation of the colony’s affairs, which eventually led to the termination of William Berkeley, who had been a poor and corrupt leader, as the Governor of Virginia. In many respects however, the rebellious nature displayed by the colonists served as a prelude to the American Revolution which would not occur for another hundred years. Some of the same issues that plagued colonists that participated in Bacon’s Rebellion, such as taxation without representation and a lack of involvement in their government, would fuel the revolutionaries one hundred years later.


[The concept of political and social progress following the power hungry political advances of an individual can be seen throughout history.] Generally speaking, the moral justification of an uprising against the government cannot be truly determined until sometime afterwards, although that is not to say that an opinion cannot be forged at the time of the civil strife. In hindsight, I believe it is easy to criticize the judgment of others in the past, but that does mean that those in the past are exempt from judging. Nathaniel Bacon, I believe, is a case in history where an individual exploited the frustrations of others in hopes that it would result in his own personal gain, in the case of Bacon, it was political. There are historical counterparts to Bacon’s example, both far extreme to one side and far extreme to other. An example of someone who’s patriotism was more much more sparked than Bacon would be the wealthy landowner George Washington, who joined the American Revolution partly out of his own desire for land claimed by the British government to belong to Indians. To the far other side could be an individual such as Maximilien Robespierre, who spearheaded the Great Terror that would eventually end in the reformed country of France. Since in hindsight, we can also view that Bacon’s Rebellion resulted in a change in the political make-up of the Virginia Colony that was reformed for the better of all of the people of Virginia, we can say that, despite whatever Bacon’s intentions were, it may have been the best for Virginia.