What Was The Cause Of Bacon's Rebellion

1676 // Bacon’s Rebellion

In the year 1676, Nathaniel Bacon, a recent graduate and wealthy man, took on the cause of frontier farmers. Frontier farmers resented the fact they had to jump through many hoops and pay expensive taxes to purchase land on some of Virginia’s most profitable land. This happened to be the area were Native American’s had been pushed back to due to the first wave of settlers. The members of the House of Burgesses, including Governor William Berkeley, rejected many of them from owning the land or any power that came with it. This was due to the fact that the people in power depended on strong relations with the Native American’s and could not risk conflict. Tension soon boiled over and led to a full scale rebellion in which Bacon led a group into Jamestown, burning the capital to ashes. Bacon, himself was killed during the conflict due to disease but had left his mark before passing. This event symbolized the colonist beginning pushes for land. Whether it was for some sort of independence, wealth, or grounds to get power, all shared this common goal. A goal that led to one of the first power shifts within the

The rebellious forces gathered weapons and killed twenty slave owners in the process. Other areas attacked included a dozen or so plantations and a country store getting ransacked. The rebellion was squashed quickly and led to death for all participants. This significance this event holds lies within the fact that while this was futile, the slaves came together to start an uprising. When there were attempts at rebellion it was usually individual acts of running away. So when this event did occur, the destruction it brought came along with was synonymous with suicide. This moment showed the first moment slaves all showed how fed up with mistreatment compared to their usual methods of more patient