Bacons rebellion
Bacons rebellionIn late 1675 and early 1776 the Doeg and Susquehannock Indians had a series of skirmishes with the colonist who were tobacco farmers in the Chesapeake region of Virginia. Nathaniel Bacon, a well-born Englishman wanted to lead an attack on the Native Americans, and punish them for their attacks on the colonist. Bacon petitioned the Governor of Virginia, William Berkeley, whom he was friends with, to authorize an attack on the Native Americans. Governor Berkeley refused, but an enraged Bacon led his army of over one thousand colonist volunteers on an attack of the Native Americans anyway. When Governor Berkeley heard this he ordered an arrest of Nathaniel Bacon. This enraged Bacon even more so he led his men on an attack against the Governor.
The colony of Virginia was now in a civil war. During this war or revolution the capital city of Virginia, Jamestown, was burned to the ground. A period of burning and looting began by both sides of the ordeal, which did not end until 1676 when Nathaniel Bacon died of dysentery. The attack on the Native Americans might appear to be the only cause of Bacon's rebellion, but there were more.
There were three main causes of Bacon's rebellion, one of which were the poor relations between Native Americans, and colonial tobacco farmers, and their fighting, which I have already mentioned. The others were the heavy trade sanctions of England and the tyrannical actions of Governor Berkeley.
England was in a war in Europe with the Dutch and they were falling into a depression. In order to pull themselves out of their depression, they adopted a strict policy of Mercantilism. Mercantilism according to Webster's Dictionary is the doctrine that arose in Europe with the decline of feudalism, that the economic interest of the nation could be strengthened by the government by the protection of home industries, as through tariffs, by increasing foreign trade, and...
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