Portfolio: Essay #1

Bacon’s Rebellion
Who do you want to run our country? Barrack Obama; the person who wants to make a change, or John McCain; who is said to be just like president George Bush. Many people want that change that Obama has offered. Bacon’s Rebellion is an example of leadership that we see, and want to see in our society. In the time of the rebellion, William Berkeley was a governor in Virginia whom everyone disliked. For a lot of people he was the George Bush, or John McCain of today. As for Barrack Obama, there was a man by the name of Nathaniel Bacon. Nathaniel Bacon was ready to make a change for the colonists of Virginia. Many people say that Nathaniel Bacon himself was the cause for the revolt. In reality, the poor leadership given by the government of Virginia was what led to the uproar of Bacon’s Rebellion.

A governors role in society is to lead in an effective way, yet William Berkeley had many faults as a governor. He mistreated everyone except the wealthy colonists. He was an unfair man who took advantage of the poor to help himself. Lower class, such as the farmers and the frontiersmen, were treated wrongly. The lower class already lived in poverty, and Berkeley himself pushed them into deeper poverty. “ He made taxes high, the prices for tobacco low, resentment against special privileges given to those close to the governor,” and Berkeley did not defend the frontier against attacks by the Native Americans (encyclopedia). This difficult matter made it hard for the farmers and frontiersmen to survive in such poverty. “The Frontiersmen felt that the colonial government had let them down.” (Zinn pg.36). The Native Americans and the Frontiersmen were not very fond of each other. The Frontiersmen wanted to clear up the anger once and for all by using violence to attack. William Berkeley wouldn’t allow this to happen. His plan was to keep peace with the Native Americans, even if it meant that his men would suffer on the frontier. William Berkeley only thought about himself, and didn’t take into mind the concerns of the people around him. He kept the Native Americans on a higher status then the farmers and the frontiersmen. The Declaration by Nathaniel Bacon states that the Government favored and protected the Native Americans over their own people after Berkeley got taken out of office. Berkeley and his fellow representatives never appointed any crimes the Native Americans participated in, therefore the Native Americans got away with their crimes without punishments. William Berkeley cared for the Native Americans more then his own colonists for which he is supposed to have been leading as governor.

The many colonists of Virginia lived in poverty caused by the Governor, even so, the Government did nothing to help them in their times of need. The Government had plenty of options to help the colonist, but instead of creating a better living environment they made it worse. This effected the ones living in poverty in the most harsh way. The government put them into poverty with their unfair taxes, and they only pushed them farther down with their selfishness. The Declaration by Nathaniel Bacon states that the Government “raised great unjust taxes,” created private favorites, and did not “in any measure advance this hopeful colony either by fortifications, towns, or trade.” The Government made no attempts in helping the colonists living in poverty, so they found a leader in Nathaniel Bacon. The governor was disliked by the farmers because he was a horrible leader. “Bacon became a popular leader when he supported farmers who felt left out of the governing process and needed protection from Native Americans who raided their farms” (library reference). The colonists found a much better leader in Nathaniel Bacon. Bacon created a favorable living environment for all the colonists by changing the unjust laws so they would treat people as equals.

Nathaniel Bacon ran the Government in a more effective way for a variety of people, unlike William Berkeley and his men. William Berkeley placed a higher emphasis on the wealthy colonists, and mistreated the lower class. Nathaniel Bacon made attempts to help the farmers and frontiersmen in the lower class, and succeeded. The textbook refers to Nathaniel Bacon as a great leader. He changed laws to better the colony. “The laws gave local settlers a voice in setting tax levies, forbade officeholders from demanding bribes or other extra fees for carrying out their duties, placed limits on holding multiple offices, and restored the vote to all freemen.” (textbook). Nathaniel Bacon restored the laws to the way they should have been. Meaning that all men are treated equal according to the laws.

Bacon’s Rebellion created a lot of effects on the Virginian society, and some of those effects are still relevant to today. There were many issues concerning the gap between the Rich and the Poor. During the Rebellion, the poor were mistreated and the rich were favored. There was William Berkeley who favored the wealthy and abused the poor, but there was also Nathaniel Bacon who tried to change that problem. Bacon was a savior for the poor. He took the taxes away and created a more equal environment. After watching all the presidential debates, this situation reminds me of the society we live in today, and the presidential candidates. We live in a society with different social classes. The wealthy, middle, and lower class. The middle and lower classes are not treated as well as the upper class. The lower classes are impacted by the taxes, and all the environmental issues (i.e., gas prices). Similar to Nathaniel Bacon; Barrack Obama is running for president to make the change for the mistreated lower class. The corrupted government as the cause for Bacon’s Rebellion shows the type of government we live in today.
Citations:
- "Bacon's Rebellion." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia.© 1994, 2000-2006, on Infoplease.© 2000–2007 Pearson Education, publishing as Infoplease.15 Oct. 2008 .
- Bacon, Nathaniel. Colonial America Reference Library. Vol. 3: Biographies: Volume 1. Detroit: UXL, 2000. p1-7.
- Bacon’s Rebellion: The Declaration (1676) by Nathaniel Bacon-Zinn, Howard. Volume One: A young People’s History of the United States.