Nathaniel Bacon was a descendant of a rich English family, he was sent by his father to Virginia to acquire life skills and get rid of the youthful behavior of a troublemaker (Grizzard, Smith, 2007, pp. 19-36, 47-63). Bacon was a cousin of W. Berkley, the wife of the governor of Virginia. On his arrival to America, Bacon quickly became a well-off plantation owner, not without the help of the governor himself who initially treated his brother-in-law protectively. Berkley himself was a veteran of civil wars in England, the favorite of the king during his first term as governor, as well as a playwright and a scientist.
Today, many historians regard Bacon's Revolt as not the episode of struggling against tyranny, but rather as struggling between two stubborn and egoistic leaders for power. There can be recalled many causes of the revolt, though all of them indicate the dissent in the colony that happened mainly due to economic problems: price reduction on tobacco, the growing power of the neighboring colonies of Maryland and Carolina, which meant the rivalry with them was followed by a lot of efforts, the increasing English market, the growing prices on manufactured goods from the metropolis. Furthermore, such factor as the losses of the English fleet during the fights with Holland also played a significant role in the upcoming revolt. There also took place problems due to weather conditions: downpours, floods, droughts and hurricanes. Being exhausted from all these misfortunes, the colonists were looking for a scapegoat, which was eventually represented by aboriginal Indians.
During the second half of the 17th century, English colonists intensively domesticated new lands on the area between Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The farther they moved to the west, the more intensified the relations of immigrants with the indigenous people became. Soon, the growing hostility of the two parties outgrew into military engagements. This happened in 1675 when, as a result of the raid of Indians on remote plantations, there were killed several chieftains of their tribes (Danver, 2011, pp. 1-10).
The population was waiting for active actions from the governor, however, Berkley was not in a rush with his decision-making. Mainly, due to the fact that maintaining friendly relations with separate indigenous people was profitable because of fur trade, the governor hesitated to take measures. In this connection, he aimed at convincing the colonists that the indigenous people were not hostile. Berkley carried our several demonstrative operations regarding the disarmament of Indian tribes and introduced a ban on selling weapons to Indians.
As a result of these measure taken by the governor, Bacon headed the army of volunteers for fighting against Indians, which was created only due to the fact that he undertook all the expenses for this campaign. Bacon required the governor to authorize his actions by passing the command to him. However, Berkley did not admit his authority. Then, Bacon decided to act independently by undertaking a campaign against indigenous Indians. Due to the opposition to the governor's will, Berkley declared the leader of the armed colonists a rebel and issued an order for his arrest. In return, Bacon called the colonists to a rebel against the governor's arbitrariness. On June 23, the group of rebels moved to Jamestown with the demand to initiate a full-scale war with Indians and prohibited to prosecute the rebellion. The General Assembly that became controlled by Bacon accepted the laws according to which the privileged classes of population had to pay taxes along with all, there was also set the period during which local governments had to be replaced and the number of tax collectors started to include elected officials. These laws were called Bacon's laws. Furthermore, at Bacon's initiative, the captured Indians appeared to be in the position of slaves.
After the acceptance of this acts, Bacon continued his fighting with Indians. This pause was used by the governor to collect a 1200-person army for the execution of his order regarding the arrest of the rebels' leader. In turn, the leader of the rebels passed a declaration in which he accused Berkley of treachery and proceeded to Jamestown's assault, thus making his enemy move on the other side of the Chesapeake Bay (Grizzard, Smith, 2007, pp. 19-36, 47-63). The council of the colony did not allow Bacon to pursuit the governor to avoid the possible turning of the local conflict into a wide-scale one and the attention of the metropolis. Then, Bacon returned to his favorite business, that is, fighting with Indian tribes. However, he later was forced to return to the capital that was governed by Berkley.
Bacon besieged Jamestown on September 14, and had already organized its assault by September 18. The local inhabitants were so outraged with the governor's arbitrariness that started to burn this houses with their own hands. Again the governor was forced to leave his residence, however, after some time to regained control over the colony's government. Perhaps, it became possible due to Bacon's death after which his entire movement collapsed. Finally, the arrival of the armies of the metropolis restored order and abolished Bacon's laws. However, Berkley also did not remain in power in Virginia, since he was soon deprived of his position and sent back to Britain.
Nevertheless, Bacon's revolt appeared a significant milestone in the life of Virginia, since it was the second time when the colonists overthrew the viceroy. This time, it was done by the efforts of different classes of population, which endowed the revolt with a national character. The rebellion found its reflection in the neighboring colonies and, consequently, reflected common discontent with the Restoration. In its essence, Bacon's revolt is highly evaluated by historians, though many of them prefer to disregard its actual liberating motives and its limitation.
References
Danver, S. L. (2011). Revolts, Protests, Demonstrations, and Rebellions in American History: An Encyclopedia (pp. 1-10). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Grizzard, F. E., & Smith, D. B. (2007). Jamestown Colony: A Political, Social, and Cultural History (pp. 19-36, 47-63). ABC-CLIO Interactive.
Yarsinske, A. W. (1999). Jamestown Exposition: American imperialism on parade (Vol. 1) (pp. 37-38). Charleston, SC: Arcadia.
