Bacon's Rebellion (R.D.)

----- Land grants caused less land to be available to the freed servants, which started a growing dislike for the grandees. The government, being mostly land owners, was not affected by the restricted land because they already had all of the land they needed. However, this was not true for the freed servants, who needed to buy more land to survive. The text book discusses this situation that created tension between the two economic classes, “The treaty that concluded the war established policies toward the Indians that the government tried to maintain over the next 30 years……Had the Chesapeake population remained constant, the policy might have worked. But the number of land-hungry colonists, especially poor, recently freed servants, continued to multiply. In their quest for land, they pushed beyond the treaty limits of English settlement and encroached steadily on Indian land.” (The American Promise, pg. 92). The way the first sentence is put, displays the idea that the government, which was all grandees at the time, did not need the land because they were attempting to uphold that treaty for at least 30 years. The end of the quote states that the population kept growing due to the constant expansion of freed servants, who had come for land in the first place. Being unable to get the land, they began to breach the land that was assigned to the Indian by the grants, in order to fulfill their dreams of the New World. This began to direct some anger from the colonists at the source of the grants itself, the government.
-----Having to fight Indians every day in order to make a living, the poor farmers began to think that the government didn’t care about them. When the government attempted to appease the Indians, the poor farmers just got angrier at them. Not only the Indian relationship, but lowered prices, higher taxes, and restrictive Navigation Acts greatly damaged the relationship between the government and its people, “Governor Berkeley strove to treat American Indians equitably and to distinguish carefully between American Indian allies and foes. Regardless, many colonists, particularly those located on the western frontier, were deeply suspicious of all American Indians….. Indian relations were further exacerbated by a depressed tobacco economy, anger over what were perceived to be excessive taxes, and displeasure with the restrictions on trade as a result of England's Navigation Acts.” (http://www.bookrags.com/research/bacons-rebellion-aaw-01/). As it says in the beginning, Governor Berkley, head of the government, tried to keep good relationships with the Indians, where the poor farmers saw them as a major threat to their livelihood. The government also put on seemingly excessive taxes while the economic demands for tobacco were going down, which didn’t help to improve their image with the poor farmers. As a final annoyance to the farmers, England brought up the Navigation Acts, which took even more money from them. The farmers were losing a lot of money, and it seemed to them that it didn’t affect the grandees in the government as much, which was why they were attempting to appease the enemies of the poor farmer, while also putting more barriers up for them on an economic level. The next declaration of Governor Berkley, or any of that current government, would become the straw that broke the camel’s back.
-----After things began to look up for the poor farmers, Berkley attacked their icon, provoking the beast which was Bacon’s Rebellion. Berkley had once before labeled Bacon as a traitor, but quickly took it back when he was voted into the House of Burgesses. This was the attempts at a “tactic” to appease the majority of the public, “Hoping to maintain the fragile peace on the frontier in 1676, Governor Berkley declared Bacon a rebel, threatened to punish him for treason, and called for new elections of burgesses who, Berkley believed, would endorse his get-tough policy. To Berkley’s surprise, the election backfired. Almost all the old burgesses were voted out of office, their places taken by local leaders, including Bacon…..When Bacon learned that Berkley had once again branded him a traitor, he declared war against Berkley and the other grandees.” (The American Promise, Pg. 93). Bacon, the leader of the poor farmers, had finally gotten in to the government and began to pass Bacon’s Laws that benefitted the farmers by pushing back Indians and cutting away taxes. Berkley, being pressured by the grandees, once again declared Bacon as a traitor, which finally pushed the poor farmers to war against the unfair higher class. The rest of the story is pretty much just fighting for a while until Bacon’s side is defeated by a very unfortunate chain of events. This rebellion might not have pushed out the grandees, but it did affect the society in many other ways.
----- Land grants prevented the quick, mass expansions of farmers in the Chesapeake Bay area. As said in the first quote of this essay, the number of farmers who needed land multiplied after the treaty was made, which forced the farmers to push on the boundary lines. The lack of land for farmers to use caused a better market for the grandees due to lack of competition, which increased the profit being made by the rich plantation owners. The mass production of tobacco by the large plantations caused lowered prices for the farmers as well. These collective negatives from the restrictive land grants made it very hard for farmers to make a living in the Chesapeake Bay area. Not only were those two issues problems for the farmers, but the Indians who fiercely protected their lands were also a major problem.
-----The land grants added to the general hatred of the Indian people because they fought anyone who tried to take their land. Ever since their arrival, hostilities have been present with the colonists and the Indians, whether it was small tensions dampened by the prospects of a new world, or heightened malicious tensions created by the greed of the colonists. The constant battles between both sides only increased these tensions, "Hostilities between colonists and American Indian tribes were omnipresent in the second half of the seventeenth century. In New England, Metacom's War devastated the landscape in 1675-76, and New Englanders were, according to Gary Nash, indeed fighting for their lives. At war's end several thousand colonists and twice as many Indians were dead. Twelve Puritan towns were destroyed and another forty attacked by the resisting tribes. Indian villages were even more devastated. The lessons of such a war reverberated throughout the colonies: Many Indian nations "were prepared to risk extinction rather than become a colonized and culturally imperialized people," and they would go to great lengths, particularly by banding together in confederation, to defend their way of life, their survival.” (http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/us_labor_history/105076). People in the Virginia area already hated the Indians due to the attacks they did against fellow colonists in other regions. The mindset of the poor farmers was that Indians would rather die than civilize, which caused most farmers to treat the Indians as an incurable pestilence that could only be held back by violence and discrimination. This reason was not the only one though; the other was the desires of the colonists, land. Colonists came to the New World for land, not Indians, and when the Indians fought them, they became even angrier that they couldn’t get what they wanted. This government decision, created an economic class tension, racist battles that lined the borders, and eventually a whole rebellion, all because a large group of people couldn’t become successful doing what they wanted to do when they came to the New World.
-----A current example of government laws preventing the prosperity of a certain group of people is the illegal alien issue. Currently, many illegal immigrants come into our country, which has caused a problem with people in the lower states. One of the reasons it’s a problem is because it’s against the law for these people to come across in such ways. Laws have been created that say this is illegal, “A person (including a group of persons, business, organization, or local government) commits a federal felony when she or he: 1- Assists an alien s/he should reasonably know is illegally in the U.S. or who lacks employment authorization, by transporting, sheltering, or assisting him or her to obtain employment, or 2- Encourages that alien to remain in the U.S. by referring him or her to an employer or by acting as employer or agent for an employer in any way, or 3- Knowingly assists illegal aliens due to personal convictions.” (http://www.americanpatrol.com/REFERENCE/AidAbetUnlawfulSec8USC1324.html). This summarizes a legal document that prevents people helping illegal aliens by punishment of law. It also prohibits illegal aliens to come into the country or to be helped by anyone in this country, which prevents illegal immigrants to work in the U.S. Like in Bacon’s times, the government has passed a law that has had a greatly negative effect on a group of people, almost to the extent of stopping them from working.


Side Note: (I am very sorry that I am not in today. The combination of my cold and the after-effects of my weekend event aren't doing to well for me.)