Bacons Rebellion
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There was nothing that did more to consolidate Virginia's slide toward race slavery than Bacon's Rebellion. This was a major uprising in the Chesapeake region in 1676. The Rebellion underscored the dilemmas inherent in Virginia's reliance on a steady flow of white indentured servants to cultivate tobacco. The labor supply was uneven and employees constantly needed new recruits since terms of service lasted only several years. The workers who earned their freedom were young, armed men who demanded property of their own. For many years historians considired the Virginia Rebellion of 1676 ot be the first stirring of revolutionary sentiment in america, which culminted in the american Revolution almost exactly one hundred years later The central figures in Bacon's Rebellion were opposites. Governor Sir William Berkely was seventy when the crisis began, was a veteran of the English civil wars, a frontier indian fighter and a King;s favorite in his first term as governor in the 1640's. His name and reputation were well respected. Berkely's antagonist was his cousin by marriage Nathanial Bacon Jr. Bacon was a trouble maker and schemer who father sent him to Virginia in hope that he would mature...