Bacon's Rebellion Brainstorming

Choose one: Race, Class, Politics, Economics
-How it was resolved by Bacon's Rebellion?
-How it was resolved by Bacon's Rebellion?
-How that resolution contributed to transforming the character of Chesapeake society in the colonal period?
-Relate theme from this historical episode with a common theme of American life today.


From The American Promise:
-Bacon's Rebellion was a dispute over Virginia's Indian policy
-Indians relinquished claims to land already settled by English
-Land beyond English settlement was supposed to be reserved for Indian use only
-Freed servants pushed beyond treaty limits
-During 1660s and 1670s violence between colonists and Indians happened frequently
-Government tried to reestablish peace
-Frontier settlers wanted revenge
-Bacon charged that the elite planters ran the government for their own personal gain
-Governor Berkeley pronounced Bacon a traitor
-He called new elections and local leaders were elected, including Bacon
-New legislature passed Bacon's Laws
-Bacon declared war against Berkeley
-Bacon unexpectedly died in October
-Allies of Bacon's were hung and the rebellion died
After:
-Grandees were not dislodged from powerful positions
-Berkeley was replaced
-Bacon's Laws were nullified
-Export tax on every hogshead of tobacco
-Tensions between great planters and small farmers lessened
-Ruling elite decided it was better for colonists to fight Indians rather than each other
-Colonial government reduced taxes by 75% between 1660 and 1700
-Declined importance of the servant labor system
-Differences between poor farmers and rich planters minimized
-Differences between whites and blacks magnified

Other sources:
http://www.nps.gov/archive/colo/Jthanout/BacRebel.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1p274.html
http://www.virginiaplaces.org/military/bacon.html