Bacon's Rebellion- Politics (DRAFT)

Political instability caused by unequal rights was a major impact on the becoming of Bacon’s Rebellion. I also believe politics had a big impact on the problems in the Chesapeake Society.

To begin, the government made a huge contribution in the cause of Bacon’s Rebellion. When the king and governor were appointed the planters later on they decided they had a change of mind. According to Volume I of The Great Republic by the Master Historians, after Charles II was crowned king and Berkeley was appointed governor, the planter’s of Virginia “found a reason for a second opinion… The Assembly… was kept permanently in session, and inhabitants became prey of venal officer holders.” I don’t think it showed great leadership when the Assembly politically targeted the inhabitants of Virginia. I also believe the inhabitants had the right to disagree with whatever the Assembly had to offer or say because they helped make up the colony, and should be treated just like any higher class person would be. Maybe if the officials of the colony had mad the right decisions to begin with Nathaniel Bacon wouldn’t have tried to rebel against the government.

Not only did the problems in the governing system affect the inhabitants of Virginia, the issues also had an effect on the Chesapeake Society during the rebellion. The government focused mainly on boundaries for the planters which caused major conflict. Volume I of The Great Republic by the Master Historians also states “Commercial laws were instituted which bore severely upon the planters.” The laws were strictly for the planters which wasn’t giving planters much freedom. I don’t think that was a great choice because the planters were also a part of the society and they put in the real work to build it up. If the planters disagreed, I believe they had a reason to; the officials should’ve setup equal rights or laws to begin with.

In my opinion, political strength had been lacking, so Bacon decided to put it upon himself to try strengthening it. Since the political issue wasn’t resolved, Bacon brought in the idea of using slaves instead of continuing to hire indentured servants. U-s-history.com’s point of view is “The political strength of common farmers and laborers had not improved…They turned to increasingly to the use of African slaves.” I assume Bacon had only come up with this idea because the lack of political strength wasn’t improving, and slaves cost less and could never become free. Maybe if the leaders tried to make things politically stable to begin with then bacon wouldn’t have a reason to come up with this crucial conclusion.