Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia

1676 Editorial: Bacon’s Rebellion – A Justified Action or Personal Power Grab?
Many of you understandably sympathize with Nathaniel Bacon and his supporters. Bacon does present some legitimate gripes: for certain, Governor William Berkley has been unfairly favoring his own ilk in the creation of lucrative trading partnerships and coalitions with the local Indian population. While targeting the root cause of corruption in the Commonwealth of Virginia, the methods being used by Mister Bacon are untenable, ill advised, inappropriate, unethical, and contrary to the values we hold dear. It is time to take a stand against Bacon and condemn his rebellion for what it is: a personal power grab by a belligerent elite posing as a populist.
Let us consider the bad blood between our Governor Berkley and Mister Bacon. Did you know the two are related, albeit not by blood but by marriage? These two men are from the same social class (Beverly). Bacon is not the man of the people as you might have been led to believe, but a member of the very same elite as Berkley, albeit a jealous and childish one. Yet unlike our honorable governor, Nathaniel Bacon “was a troublemaker and schemer whose father sent him to Virginia in the hope that he would mature,” (McCully 1). It would seem his father had high hopes that the colonies would change his prodigal son, but alas, the move did nothing to change Bacon’s bad ways. He continued to be a troublemaker and a schemer in the worst ways, and now wreaks havoc on the people of the Commonwealth. Bacon can now be deemed responsible for countless deaths of Indians and colonists alike, creating anarchy in our province.
Yes, we do acknowledge that Governor Berkley is a man driven by his own self-interest. But it is not Berkley who is causing death, destruction, and despair. Berkley has done his best to calm the rebellion, but to no avail; Bacon has so effectively riled up the populace that a mob mentality has prevailed. Certainly, the rebels have a cause for discontent. We know that the prices of tobacco have declined to a level that precludes many of us from making a viable living. We also know that Berkley and his cohorts in Britain conspire to control market prices of goods, divesting our Virginia farmers from having control over their own labor and the prices of their own goods (Declaration of Nathaniel Bacon in the Name of the People of Virginia 1). Likewise, we know that our farmers have no recourse during the increased competition from other colonies. Berkley has yet to do anything to assure us that our financial needs will be met. We do have grievances. But those grievances can be resolved without violence.
Bacon has unfairly targeted our local Indian populations, betraying their trust and acting in a way befitting a belligerent child and not a grown man. The fine people of Virginia should no longer tolerate his behavior, as he is setting a bad example of how conduct ourselves in local politics. Bacon also does not have your best interests in mind, dear reader. He does what he does for publicity and out of abject cruelty. Whereas Bacon resorted immediately to violence, Governor Berkley has earnestly tried to use diplomacy and find a peaceful resolution. Berkley has offered peace agreements to Bacon and the rebels but they refuse to listen, being bent on using violence (McCully 1). If Bacon did have your best interests in mind, he would work tirelessly to wield his power over his cousin to try and change the root causes of our financial struggles. He most certainly cares not for the rest of humanity, but only for himself as his name will now go down in history as the man who challenged the Governor of Virginia. Unfortunately, the lives lost in the rebellion will have vanished in vain, for little will come from this rebellion other than a legacy of trauma and lingering mistrust between us and our Indian neighbors.





References

Beverly, Robert. “Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676.” http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/amerbegin/power/text5/BaconsRebellion.pdf
Declaration of Nathaniel Bacon in the Name of the People of Virginia, July 30, 1676,"Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, 4th ser., 1871, vol. 9: 184–8
McCully, Susan. “Bacon’s Rebellion.” National Park Service, 1987. https://www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/bacons-rebellion.htm