ESSAY #1 Final Draft

Essay #1 Final Draft

“In January 1667, The Susquehannahs (Natives) had, in a most inhumane maner, murthered no less then 60 innocent people, no ways guilty of any actual injury don on these ill disarming, brutish heathen...(Quote from document #5)." In the 1670’s, these attacks were on the rise in Virginia. As the Natives continued to attack the Virginians, Sir William Berkeley, who was the governor of Virginia, took very little action toward this issue and failed to defend them. The Virginians wanted Nathaniel Bacon to lead them because they believed that he was on their side. Nathaniel Bacon confronted Berkeley and demanded a military commission so he could take care of this problem, but Berkeley turned Bacon down. Bacon went along with what he thought needed to be done even if it was against Berkeley. That's when the uprising of the rebellion began. While many believe that bacon was a rebel and a horrible man for starting this rebellion, in reality, the Virginians should also take part of the blame because if it wasn't for their support, Bacon's Rebellion really wouldn't of even happen.

Many Virginians, including unemployed former indentured servants, assumed that Berkeley stood on the wrong side of this issue. That's when they looked elsewhere for help and found Nathaniel Bacon who shared their frustration toward the Natives.“When Bacon threatened to act without authorization, Berkeley declared him a rebel. The response was a public wave of support for Bacon, frightening Berkeley enough to trigger him to finally schedule an election for a new House of Burgesses. Bacon was elected, and Berkeley let him take his seat on the Council briefly (Quote from://www.virginiaplaces.org/military/bacon.html).” That support from the Virginians led Bacon to his original plan, which was to attack the Natives. Bacon was then charged, by Berkeley, with treason since he acted without commission from the government. You would think that Berkeley arresting Bacon would be the end of Bacon's attempts to attack the Natives, but there is still more surprises to come.
www.virginiaplaces.org/military/bacon.html

Still obviously without commission, Bacon returned to Jamestown later that same month,“rallied a mob, and attacked innocent Occaneechi, Tutelo, and Saponi Indians (Quote from www.virginiaplaces.org/military/bacon.html).”Soon after that Berkeley was confronted (at gunpoint) by Bacon and his men. Berkeley was then forced to give Bacon commission and immediately fled with some of his supporters to the eastern shores of Virginia. In September of 1676, Bacon and his supporters set Jamestown on fire. Berkeley didn't return before this happened because the support for Bacon was still high. I believe that the Virginians only wanted Nathaniel Bacon to lead them through this revolt because they believed that he could solve their problems, and they acted so quickly toward this issue because they claimed that the government was corrupt. They only assumed this because Berkeley was trying to establish peace with the Natives. What the Virginians could of tried to do was look at this issue through Berkeley's view.

According to Berkeley, he was not opposed of fighting the Indians at all. It was the demand from the Virginians for all the Natives to be driven out or killed which was the problem. From the beginning of the Native attacks, Berkeley was doing what he could to handle the attacks without upsetting the Native tribes. He wanted to establish peace with them. Berkeley knew that if he did what the Virginians wanted him to do it might start a war, which was what he wanted to avoid in the first place. The Virginians didn't take the time to understand why Berkeley refused to give Bacon permission to lead troops to fight the Natives. When Berkeley arrested Bacon for attempting to attack Native tribes without permission, he knew of Bacon's further intentions and was trying to protect the Virginians, but they didn't listen.

When Bacon came back with greater support, Berkeley fled from Jamestown with his supporters. As the Rebellion was coming to a close Bacon declared Berkeley and the government was corrupt because they “supposedly”protected the Natives for their own selfish reasons. Berkeley could not take this and decided to secretly infiltrate Bacon's fleet. Berkeley was successful and was once again strong enough to retake Jamestown. That is when Bacon Burned Jamestown to the ground. On October 26,1676 Bacon died of blood flux. Shortly after that Berkeley quickly regained complete control and hanged the other leaders of the Rebellion. After the investigations of the rebellion from English officials, Berkeley was relieved from his Governorship and returned to England. He later died in July 1677.

The economy today is on a road to failure and destruction. Because of the wars that the United States are dealing with, we have been loosing money that could benefit our society. This has already angered us because we aren't used to living in a depression like society. You could compare the anger the we have toward the American government to the anger the Virginians had toward their government. The only difference is that our society today have not attempted to overthrow our government.

Bacon’s Rebellion was the first revolt in America against the political system. It was also the first revolt where frontiersman and the poor society took part. I’ve noticed that many people have assumed that Bacon was the complete bad guy through this event,which he was,but what they don’t notice though is that the Virginians tried to take matters into their own hands, and failed. The Rebellion really wouldn’t have happened if the Virginians didn’t support Bacon in the first place. He would’ve just been some regular guy who has his negative opinions about the Native race, but couldn't do anything about it. Even though this all somewhat came together in the end, to me this whole situation should have been handled the way Berkeley wanted it to. The Virginians are to blame for supporting a man who started the uprising of an event that killed very many innocent people. What did they even know about this man? Obviously not enough. They probably realized in the end that what they were supporting was wrong even if though they hated the Native race. I believe that this event could have been avoided but hey, that's just my opinion.