Bacon's Rebellion In The American Colonies

The English settlers in the American colonies were acting as independent states well before the American Revolution took place in 1775. There are numerous examples when the English colonist decided to act on their own accord and sometimes disobey direct orders of the crown. In this essay I will outline the numerous ways that the English colonist started to defy orders from the English crown and explain how it lead to the colonists fight for independence.
Bacon’s Rebellion is an example of how the English settlers began to act as an independent nation. Bacon's rebellion began over land disputes in Virginia. Governor William Berkeley was representative of the English crown. Bacon and other backcountry farmers feared that local Indian tribes were going to raid these farmers. Governor Berkeley took a defensive strategy that the farmers disagreed with. In 1676, almost a hundred years prior to the revolution, the farmers gathered and attacked the Indians. Consequently, this lead to the farmers rebellion against the colony, the farmers believed that the governor wasn't trying to protect the people of the colony, the government was betraying its peoples trust. As a result, Bacon and his followers raided

This angered the colonist since many died fighting for that land. The Crown created this line to prevent further fighting with between the Indians and the English settlers. The colonist took this as another sign that the crown cared more about the Indians than the colonist. A small group of colonist saw this and acted in anger. They became known as the Paxton Boys, unprovoked, they raided a small Christian Indian village and killed about half a dozen Indians. They continued to raid other small tribes and were finally met with an opposing force in Philadelphia. Although this expedition was confined to a couple hundred men, it was a stance of independence and defiance against the British