BACON’S
REBELLION
The American Colonies
Virginia, 1675
ORIGINAL 13 COLONIES
Picture It…
• You are an Indentured Servant in
Colonial America
• Tobacco has become the cash
crop savior of the colony
• Everyone is trying to make $$$
planting it
• It is EVERYWHERE!!!
BUT…
• Tobacco is incredibly harsh on the land
• The Colonial Economy & Labor Force
has become one-dimensional
• Education is lacking
• Cities aren’t developing
• Indentured Servants are frustrated
– high taxes
– no more land left for them
• What if something goes
wrong???
PRECURSORS
TO BACON’S REBELLION
• 1. One crop economy
• 2. Indentured Servitude
• 3. Soil Dying
Something Does!!!
• As the market is flooded with tobacco,
the price of tobacco plummets
– Farmers not making much money
– Go into debt
– Still have heavy taxes
• As tobacco is harsh on the land, the
soil needs time to replenish
What To Do???
• Colonists thought if they could just get
more land…
– Could grow more tobacco
– Sell more
– Make more money!!!
• But there is no more land…for
colonists
• Who has the rest???
Native Americans
• Treaties have been signed
• Borders have been drawn
• So What!!!!!!!!!!
• Discontent boils over…
• Farmers begin to invade Powhatan
Lands to the West
• Group of Susquehannocks are killed
• Retaliation comes
Cry for War!!
• VA Governor William Berkeley refuses
to authorize a war
• Farmers are furious at Gov’t
• In steps…
• Nathaniel Bacon
• Led poor farmers, indentured servants,
even slaves on a rampage
N. BACON
CAUSES
OF BACON’S REBELLION
•
•
•
•
1. Tobacco Price Fall
2. Lack of Available Land
3. High Taxes
4. No Gov’t Help
Bacon’s Rebellion
• Makes war on Native Tribes for
their Lands
• Begins looting wealthy white
plantations as well
• Jamestown is burned
Bacon Organizing His Men
Jamestown Burned
EFFECTS
OF BACON’S REBELLION
• 1. Farmers Start War
• 2. Invasion of Native American Lands
• 3. Attack Wealthy Planters
But Then…
• Bacon dies suddenly
• Rebellion fades out
• HOUSE OF BURGESSES – VA
Assembly votes to lower taxes and
open up some land
THE REALIZATION
• Indentured Servant Labor isn’t
Working!!!
– They become free and want things
– Like land, freedoms, rights, money
• American Colonies Need a New Source
of Labor
• One that won’t give them these
problems
OUTCOME
OF BACON’S REBELLION
• 1. Some Gov’t Help
– Lower Taxes
• 2. SLAVERY EXPANDS IN THE
COLONIES!!!
– Indentured Servitude will not work
What was Bacon’s Rebellion?
• Farmers expressing discontent,
making war on Native
Americans to get more land
What is the SIGNIFICANCE of
Bacon’s Rebellion?
• The Significance of Bacon’s
Rebellion is that African
Slavery was expanded in the
American Colonies
• (Cause and Effect!!!)
• (Changes over Time!!!)