Bacon's Rebellion was a rebellion of many of the poorer people in the Virginia colony. Many people had come to the Virginia settlements because they wanted to start a new life and prosper from the land of America. Unfortunately these people usually started out poor in Europe and had to sell themselves as indentured slaves for 4 to 5 years. These people would come to the Americas and then work on a plantation or other sort of farm for the duration of their servitude. When they were done with their indenture however, they usually stayed poor. Only 25% of the people coming from Europe ever got the life they wanted. Nathaniel Bacon used these unhappy workers and other people from the lower class and led a rebellion against one of the wealthiest plantation owners in Virginia, William Berkeley. The idea behind this rebellion was that wealthy plantation owners such as Berkley were parasites and thriving off the land while everybody else suffered. In the long term this affected the way that tobacco plantation worked. Instead of buying indentured servants, more farmers bought slaves from Africa because of Bacon's rebellion.
Historical Figures
- Nathaniel Bacon
- William Berkeley
Artifact
Drawing by Rita Honeycutt
Sources
United States. National Park Service. "Bacon's Rebellion." National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, 22 Sept. 2015. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.
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