Rough Draft number 1 v1.2

In the summer of 1676, a revolution began in the colony of Virginia that changed England’s policies for governing it’s colonies for ever. This revolution was a battle of two individuals using various excuses, such as unfair taxation and Indian policy, to get the people of Virginia behind their ideas of what should be done to make their colony a place of their own personal utopia. The revolution was later called Bacon’s Rebellion, named after Nathaniel Bacon Jr., the renegade leader of the people rebelling against William Berkeley, the corrupt governor of Virginia for 15 years. These two men were very influential in the Virginia colony, and they both were deeply entrenched in their views about how the “encroaching” Indian threat should be handled. Unfortunately they could in no way agree on how it should be handled. Bacon thought that all trade and land agreements with the local tribes should be forgone and the colonists should slaughter the Indians, so as to prevent any further retaliatory attacks from them, while Berkeley wanted to maintain the peace with the Indians and follow the laws that had been set in place for a long time, so as to keep benefiting from the beaver pelt trade that was making him one of the richest people in America at the time. Sadly, Berkeley’s policy came at the cost of not allowing the frontiersmen the ability to adequately defend themselves from the tribes that were in fact hostile, and to add insult to injury (or vice versa as the case may be) he had forts built in less than ideal locations, using extra taxes to pay for them. Thus, this as well as several other issues such as unfair taxation and low profits from the tobacco being grown in the Chesapeake area, turned into a prolonged rebellion, with both sides labeling the other as a traitor to the crown of England. Though it seems a common occurrence for people who read about Bacon’s Rebellion to take Bacon’s side in their historical analysis, I find too many faults in both Bacon as well as Berkeley to feel comfortable saying that either person had the correct ideas of how the situation should have been handled. I believe that both Nathaniel Bacon and William Berkeley were equally responsible for inciting Bacon’s Rebellion.
Bacon had a history of disobeying the laws before he ever even arrived in Virginia. “A contemporary remembered him as being tall and slender, ‘blackhair'd and of an ominous, pensive melancholy Aspect … not much given to talk, … of a most imperious and dangerous Pride of heart, despising the wiser of his neighbours for their Ignorance, and very ambitious and arrogant” (http://www.answers.com/topic/nathaniel-bacon), which paints Bacon as a man who did not want any sort of authority over him, and would do whatever he needed to get what he wanted. To further exemplify this, he had to leave Cambridge University after being caught attempting to defraud an acquaintance there. He was given a chance at a new beginning when his father and brother-in-law sent him to Virginia, giving him a large sum of money to start up his own plantation. Upon his arrival, William Berkeley helped Bacon buy two estates with which to start up his farm. Later, Berkeley even gave Bacon the honorary seat on the council, saying “Gentlemen of your quality come very rarely into this country, and therefore when they do come are used by me with all respect," (http://www.answers.com/topic/nathaniel-bacon). Berkeley even gave Bacon permission to trade with the Indians, a privilege he allowed only a few people in Virginia. Bacon would later throw this in his face, once he had decided that any dealing with the Indians was a traitorous act.
William Berkeley was not an innocent bystander by any accounts, no matter how bad a person Bacon was. He had delayed having a re-election of the council, or of course his own seat as governor, for 16 years. Because of this, he had a strong monopoly of the trade with the Indians, allowing only a select few to also participate in such dealings as the beaver pelt business, which was insanely lucrative during the 1600-mid 1800s (and is indeed still a fairly productive trade). With all of his money and influence as governor, Berkeley put into effect many taxes that took money from people, often with little to no gain for said payees. One example of this was when he ordered the construction of several forts at the heads of various rivers in response to the complaints of the farmers of Indian attacks on their farms. This was in fact a heavy factor in inciting Bacon’s Rebellion, as it was one of the things that caused common farmers to form their own community militias that Bacon took control of.
It is quite clear when you look at any historical document that it was indeed Bacon who fired the proverbial first shot in Bacon’s Rebellion, but why is a controversial topic. I personally believe that he was motivated solely by his desire to destroy the local Indian tribes that he held responsible for the death of his overseer on his plantation. This is proven by his sending of a letter to Berkeley requesting permission to form an army to attack the Indians, but without waiting for a reply, Bacon formed an “extra-legal band of over 500 men, without commission”(Puglisi’s Essay, page 77). This history book gives us a quote from Bacon himself, "Bacon proclaimed his 'Design not only to ruine and extirpate all Indians in Generall but all Manner of Trade and Commerce with them’”. In the second example, he throws Berkeley’s surprising generosity in his face; by disowning any former trade agreements he had previously been given. Although it seems his motives were quite clear, Bacon did not hesitate to use the common farmer’s anger at things that had only benefited Bacon, such as tax policies that taxed the poorer farmers and not the richer “Grandees”, to rally them behind his cause and to attack the Indians. Bacon realized however, that to keep the people behind him, he would have to satisfy their demands for a reform of the political and economic system, so published his “Declaration of the People” in July of 1676. In this declaration, he claimed that William Berkeley was corrupt, and wanted peace with the Indians for his own personal gain. By doing this, he made sure that the people he had under his command were loyal to him, so that he could continue his own campaign.
Although Bacon was the one who is easiest to blame for starting the rebellion, William Berkeley played no small part in inciting it. When Bacon sent his request for a military commission to attack the Indian tribes, Berkeley denied it because he was afraid that the friendly Indian tribes would also be destroyed. Although this seems noble, it is also fairly naive. Instead of banning all attacks against the Indians, he could have demanded that only certain tribes be attacked, or had the friendly Indians get out of the area. This would have appeased much of the frontiersmen’s anger, as opposed to fueling it even more by not allowing them to defend against the Indian attacks adequately or retaliating at all. To make matters worse, when he found out that Bacon had gone ahead with his attack against the Indians, he proclaimed Bacon, the hero of the people, a traitor to England. With this proclamation, he essentially ensured that the people of Virginia would rally behind their hero against the corrupt Grandee led government. When Bacon returned the favor by naming Berkeley a traitor to England, Berkeley realized that he had put himself in a dangerous position, and he attempted to re-establish his standing as governor by have the first election in 16 years. Unfortunately for him, the election backfired severely, and Bacon was voted into the governor’s seat, and most of the Grandees lost their places on the council.
When Bacon gained his seat as governor by vote of Virginia, he enacted several laws in quick succession, which are known as Bacon’s Laws. “…the laws gave local settlers a voice in setting tax levies, forbade officeholders from demanding bribes or their extra fees for carrying out their duties, placed limits on holding multiple offices, and restored the vote to all freemen.”(History book, 92). I have to congratulate Bacon on these laws, as they seem to be the precursor to our system of checks and balances in our American government, but that does not change the fact that soon after establishing these laws he left his office to go attack the Indians again. Not long after he left, the Grandees convinced Berkeley to re-declare Bacon a traitor. Needless to say, Bacon did not take this very well. He declared war on Berkeley and the Grandees, and the two factions fought for three months. Bacon was not fighting the winning fight however, as he refused to spot fighting the Indians while fighting Berkeley. His forces were raiding Indian homes while at the same time sacking the Grandees plantations, and attacking Jamestown, showing just how desperate he was to get vengeance from the Indians for killing his overseer. Berkeley eventually won the war, once Bacon died suddenly of a disease and some 1300 British soldiers came to reinforce Berkeley, and he promptly hung most of Bacon’s supporters.
I hope that this verbose essay has shown you that both Bacon and Berkeley were equally responsible for inciting a terrible rebellion. Through their reckless actions, they left many people with ruined farms and homes, and decimated the local Indian tribes. This is all because neither was willing to back down from their position and realize that what they were doing was not necessarily for the people of the Virginia colony as it was for themselves.