Indian massacres and oppressive taxation were the immediate causes
that drove Nathaniel Bacon and his Virginia rebels to rise up for
American freedom, but there were deeper passions stirring in the land
that led Bacon, the uncommon aristocrat, to stand for the good of common
man against Sir William Berkeley.
Berkley's Corrupt Ways
This
rebellion grew out of the misgovernment of the King's governor, Sir
William Berkley, whose chief aim was to build a system of personal rule
by corrupting the Lower House of the Assembly, through the use of the
appointing power. He surrounded himself with "yes men" and in 1661, when
the Burgesses met in the little statehouse at Jamestown, Berkeley made
it very clear to them that they were there because of his favor, and
expected them to vote as he proposed.
What Berkeley proposed was
nothing short of tyranny. Large areas of unoccupied land were granted to
his favorites, taxes were levied against the poor for his/their
personal benefit, and Sir William's enemies, estates were confiscated.
This went on for over sixteen years.
Nathaniel Bacon For The Common Man
Nathaniel
Bacon declared that the common people were "curbed and oppressed in all
manner of ways" and that perpetual breach of laws, prosecutions,
excuses, and evasions showed that things were carried, "as if it were
but to play a booty, game, or divide a spoil."
After years of
oppression by Sir William Berkeley, under the leadership of Bacon, the
people turned to open resistance, touched off by an Indian war in the
summer of 1675, when Governor Berkeley refused to defend the people from
the hostile Indians. Bacon and the people suppressed the Indians
themselves. Afterwards their aggression was turned towards Sir William
Berkeley, because of his evil rule over the common man.
At first,
when Nathaniel Bacon and his wife migrated from England, Sir William
befriended him and tried to win his support, but when Bacon saw his
motive, he withdrew from him and eventually rebelled against Berkeley,
forcing him to pass a series of laws which struck at the roots of the
governor's power. Councilors were no longer exempt from taxation,
officials must not charge for their services more than the fees
prescribed by law, the justices of peace were to be restrained in
assessing taxes, sheriffs were not to succeed themselves, no man was to
hold more than one public office at a time, and a law that was a century
and a half in advance of its time, giving the right to vote to all
freemen.
