Friday, September 13, 2013

Bacon's Rebellion

      Bacon's Rebellion took place in 1676, and was led by Nathaniel Bacon. He was motivated to gather those who were displaced by the governor William Berkeley and rise against the voted leader. Due to the recent Indian attacks on the colony and the non-active stance Berkeley had posed, Bacon decided to lead his unruly group to attack as many Indians as the could seek out.  
      The idea behind Bacon's Rebellion was not only a group of stubborn individuals who were looking to obtain revenge against the Indians; they wanted to send a message to Berkeley from Bacon, as a showcase of his own form of power. The farmers who followed him also utilized this event as an opportunity to show the growing independence in the minds of the oppressed. They began to steer away from the clutches of a paternalistic society when threatened by the Indians and embrace a new ideology: autonomy. 
      In July of the same year, Bacon delivered a speech dubbed "Declaration of the People", where he made people swear their allegiance to him. Unfortunately for Bacon, it all rolled downhill afterwards; he died later in October of the same year. It was then that Berkeley returned to not only save face, but to gather his own revenge; twenty threes individuals who had been part of the rebellion were lynched as an example of his power. Consequently, the governor was then released of his job and died in 1677.  










historymatters.gmu..edu/d/5800

11 comments:

  1. Bacon was not prepared in case his plan did not succeed due to his speech "Declaration of the People".

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  2. Even though it may seem "cruel" or "immoral" to use now, the fact that people were killed in order to emphasize power, if we'd lived during the actual time period, whether we were religious or not, we would had MOST likely thought of murder as justice.

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  3. Bacon's Rebellion is important because the ideology of autonomy became prominent; therefore, the farmers gather and protested.

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  4. Bacon's Rebellion was a statement to the governor that with the power of supporters and followers there was no stopping the idea of independence.

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  5. It was to bad Bacon had to die I would have liked to see another outcome .

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  6. Bacon's Rebellion was a form of uprising against the government.

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  7. William Berekley was a cruel man who just wanted to show off the power that he had over the people.

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  8. specifically, what indians did they attack?

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    1. the susquehanock tribe. they were actually friendly, though the group did not know or care about that.

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  9. Bacon's Rebellion was official turn of events that allowed the elite to realize that it was dangerous for white indentured servants and slaves to be in alliance; therefore, reorganizing the "social structure."

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  10. Even though his actions were not the best, I have to give credit for getting the governments attention either way.

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