2. Bacon’s Rebellion

3. Southern Society Planter Elite Backcountry Farmers Landowning “gentry”
Political representatives
Plantations
Bigger = wealthier = more free time
Small and rough at first
Switched to slaves and grew
Land was affordable; tools were not
“Yeomen” farmers
Subsistence farming: only enough crops to feed families

4. Bacon’s Rebellion
Governor Berkeley of Virginia restricted voting in House of Burgesses to landowners and exempted politicians from taxpaying
Land crisis: Yeomen wanted more land
Wealthy owners did not want to risk war with Native Americans
Only land for yeomen to expand with was Native American land

5. Bacon’s Rebellion Nathaniel Bacon, April 1676
Native American attacked his plantation
Organized own militia and attacked Native Americans
Berkeley’s Reforms to calm the situation
Bacon approved 1,000 soldiers to attack
All free men given right to vote
Tax exemptions taken away
Bacon and 100s of men seized power in Jamestown from Berkeley in July 1676
Charged Berkeley with corruption
Berkeley raised his own army and fought back until October 1676
Bacon became sick and died after hiding in a swamp