1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,960 Speaker 1: Hey everybody. Before we start today's episode, we wanted to 2 00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:05,120 Speaker 1: let you know that Stuff you Missed in History Class 3 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:08,479 Speaker 1: has been nominated for a Webby Award this year. We've 4 00:00:08,520 --> 00:00:12,239 Speaker 1: been nominated for Best Writing in the Podcast category. You 5 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:18,360 Speaker 1: can vote by going to Webby Awards dot com. Welcome 6 00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:20,919 Speaker 1: to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production of 7 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:29,560 Speaker 1: I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hello, and welcome to 8 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 1: the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. 9 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:36,440 Speaker 1: Today we're going to get to the actual fighting part 10 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:39,720 Speaker 1: of Bacon's rebellion. And if you have not listened to 11 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:43,280 Speaker 1: our previous episode, which did not it included some off 12 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:46,839 Speaker 1: screen fighting in the form of things like the Anglo 13 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:49,800 Speaker 1: Dutch Wars, but uh, that one did not have as 14 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:52,320 Speaker 1: much direct conflict. And if you have not listened to 15 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 1: that one, this one might make sense on a very 16 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:58,440 Speaker 1: basic level. But there is just there's so much context 17 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: for this incident that we are not covering. We're not 18 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:05,000 Speaker 1: going to repeat all those things today, so I recommend 19 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:08,120 Speaker 1: the other one before this one. And last time, we 20 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:11,960 Speaker 1: talked about the many reasons Virginia colonists were frustrated by 21 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:14,920 Speaker 1: the sixteen seventies many of which were connected to the 22 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:19,160 Speaker 1: price of tobacco, taxation, and disparities between the richest and 23 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:23,560 Speaker 1: most prominent colonists and basically everyone else. But none of 24 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:27,080 Speaker 1: those issues were the spark that started the rebellion. Instead, 25 00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:29,880 Speaker 1: it was the difference between how the colony was responding 26 00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:33,360 Speaker 1: to native people and how the colonists thought the colony 27 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:37,440 Speaker 1: should respond. The treaty that had ended the Third Anglo 28 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:40,840 Speaker 1: Palatan War had drawn a clear boundary between the colony 29 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:45,560 Speaker 1: and the Palatin Confederacy, but as more colonists came to Virginia, 30 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:48,520 Speaker 1: they started moving closer and closer to that line, and 31 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:51,160 Speaker 1: then eventually across it into what was supposed to be 32 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 1: the Confederacy's territory. Also, not every tribe and nation in 33 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: the area was a party to this treaty. The Poetan 34 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:02,560 Speaker 1: Confederacy was an alliance of Algonquin speaking tribes, but not 35 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:06,720 Speaker 1: every Algonquin tribe was part of the confederacy, and Algonquin 36 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:09,480 Speaker 1: speaking tribes were not the only tribes in the region. 37 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:12,680 Speaker 1: In terms of just the tribes that were either part 38 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:15,720 Speaker 1: of or affected by Bacon's rebellion in some way, there 39 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:20,000 Speaker 1: were at least twelve representing three different language groups. And 40 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:22,680 Speaker 1: that is also there were more than twelve tribes and 41 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:26,880 Speaker 1: nations in the area. That's that's I cannot stress enough that, 42 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:30,880 Speaker 1: like North America, was a hugely diverse place with a 43 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 1: lot of individual tribes and nations long before Europeans ever 44 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:39,639 Speaker 1: got to it. So in my sixteen seventy five, most 45 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:43,080 Speaker 1: of the colonists in Virginia's more inland areas were really 46 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:46,120 Speaker 1: wary of the native people, and some of them felt 47 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,680 Speaker 1: threatened by their proximity. This was especially true after they 48 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:52,760 Speaker 1: started hearing about King Philip's War, which had started in 49 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:56,400 Speaker 1: New England that year. Others just thought the native people 50 00:02:56,440 --> 00:02:59,680 Speaker 1: were in the way of colonial expansion, or that the 51 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:03,280 Speaker 1: College and He's trade with Native nations was taking opportunities 52 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:07,840 Speaker 1: away from Europeans. Native people also became scapegoats for a 53 00:03:07,919 --> 00:03:10,240 Speaker 1: lot of the colonists frustrations that just did not have 54 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:13,440 Speaker 1: anything to do with them, with some colonists even going 55 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:17,080 Speaker 1: so far as blaming some kind of native sorcery for 56 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:21,399 Speaker 1: bad weather that ruined the tobacco crop. Regardless of their 57 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 1: exact motivations, though, the prevailing sentiment among the colonists was 58 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:29,640 Speaker 1: that the native population needed to go. In July of 59 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:34,040 Speaker 1: sixty five, members of the Algonquin speaking Doeg people were 60 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:37,320 Speaker 1: caught up in an ongoing trading dispute with Virginia planter 61 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 1: Thomas Matthews. Eventually, several Doeg's rated Matthew's plantation, and Matthew's 62 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 1: herdsman killed at least one of them before dying of 63 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:49,760 Speaker 1: his own injuries. This led to a series of back 64 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:53,520 Speaker 1: and forth retaliations between the colonists and the Doegs, which 65 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:57,040 Speaker 1: ultimately involved the Virginia Militia and at times crossed into 66 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 1: neighboring Maryland. It was across the border in Maryland that 67 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:04,839 Speaker 1: the militia wrongly attacked a completely different tribe who had 68 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 1: nothing to do with this situation. This was the Iroquois 69 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 1: speaking Susquehannas. The militia killed fourteen Susquehanna hunters, attacking them 70 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:17,239 Speaker 1: while they were asleep in a cabin. The Doeg hunters 71 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:20,279 Speaker 1: that the militia was actually trying to go after, was 72 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:22,880 Speaker 1: in a different cabin that was not far away. The 73 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:27,479 Speaker 1: Susquehannas had previously maintained an alliance with the Virginia Colony, 74 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:30,239 Speaker 1: but they couldn't just allow the killing of fourteen people 75 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:34,599 Speaker 1: to go unanswered. They killed two colonists, along with killing 76 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:38,680 Speaker 1: some livestock and destroying crops before contacting Governor Berkeley to 77 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:43,600 Speaker 1: negotiate for peace. Berkeley did not want another large scale 78 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:46,560 Speaker 1: war with the native population. He thought that it would 79 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:49,520 Speaker 1: be expensive and destructive, and that it would disrupt a 80 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:52,520 Speaker 1: profitable fur trade that he had established with some of 81 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:56,280 Speaker 1: the region's tribes. He was also concerned that a violent 82 00:04:56,320 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 1: confrontation with one tribe might unite others in the area 83 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:03,480 Speaker 1: against the colonists, regardless of whether they were allies or 84 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 1: enemies before that point. But the colonists and many of 85 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: the militia had no patience for caution. They wanted the 86 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:14,919 Speaker 1: perceived native threat to be removed entirely. A volunteer militia 87 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:18,360 Speaker 1: continued to attack Native people without much regard at all 88 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:21,240 Speaker 1: for who they were actually fighting, and they lay siege 89 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:25,440 Speaker 1: to Afford, where the Susquehannics had taken refuge. When several 90 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:28,240 Speaker 1: Susquehanna leaders left under a flag of truce to try 91 00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:31,680 Speaker 1: to negotiate with the governor, the militia killed them, and 92 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:34,680 Speaker 1: this led to an outright war between the Susquehannas and 93 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:40,160 Speaker 1: the colony. Yeah, Berkeley and this whole scenario. Berkeley is 94 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:45,400 Speaker 1: the person that like differentiated the idea that there were 95 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:50,600 Speaker 1: multiple different Native people's and that they were not one monolith. Uh. 96 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 1: Not necessarily because he was magnanimous or enlightened, but because 97 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:56,880 Speaker 1: he was the person that was responsible for maintaining a 98 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 1: lot of these relationships. But the colonists, as a general rule, 99 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:04,680 Speaker 1: thought that like all Native people were the same and 100 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:08,000 Speaker 1: needed to be treated the same, and the same treatment 101 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:10,080 Speaker 1: in this case was to get rid of them. And 102 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:13,560 Speaker 1: that's where Nathaniel Bacon Jr. Finally comes into this picture 103 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:17,240 Speaker 1: after more than one entire episode about the rebellion name 104 00:06:17,279 --> 00:06:20,039 Speaker 1: for him. He was twenty nine years old and he 105 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:22,239 Speaker 1: had arrived in the colony a couple of years before. 106 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:26,039 Speaker 1: He was also Governor Berkeley's cousin by marriage, and he 107 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:28,440 Speaker 1: had been given a seat on the Governor's council because 108 00:06:28,480 --> 00:06:31,800 Speaker 1: of that family connection in his family's prominence, but he 109 00:06:31,839 --> 00:06:34,280 Speaker 1: was also kind of a troublemaker. He had married a 110 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 1: woman without her father's consent, and then he had allegedly 111 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 1: tried to cheat a neighbor in England out of his inheritance. 112 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:43,599 Speaker 1: So his father, Nathaniel Bacon Senior, had paid for his 113 00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: son to go to Virginia and the hope that he 114 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 1: would maybe gain some maturity and some wisdom there. Ah 115 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:55,159 Speaker 1: should be obvious that's not what happened. Spoiler alert, not 116 00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:59,360 Speaker 1: so much. One of the younger Bacon's plantations was at 117 00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 1: the head of the Orc River, and it was there 118 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:03,920 Speaker 1: that a native fighting force it is not clear from 119 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:07,520 Speaker 1: which tribe killed his overseer and one of his servants. 120 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:12,480 Speaker 1: Bacon swore to avenge their deaths. A growing volunteer militia 121 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:16,280 Speaker 1: made up of free farmers, European and African, indentured workers 122 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:21,000 Speaker 1: and enslaved Africans made him its leader. Yeah. The the 123 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:23,760 Speaker 1: makeup of that militia is why we spent so much 124 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:26,880 Speaker 1: time talking about indentured workers and enslaved people in the 125 00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:30,400 Speaker 1: previous episode, because they all united together as part of 126 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:34,760 Speaker 1: this force. In seventeen o four, historian Robert Beverly described 127 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:38,880 Speaker 1: this militia and Bacon's involvement this way quote. At first 128 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:43,360 Speaker 1: they flocked together, tumultuously, running in troops from one plantation 129 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:46,840 Speaker 1: to another without a head, until at last the seditious 130 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:50,320 Speaker 1: humor of Colonel Nathaniel Bacon led him to be of 131 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:53,600 Speaker 1: the party. This gentleman had been brought up at one 132 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:55,800 Speaker 1: of the ends of court in England. He had a 133 00:07:55,880 --> 00:08:01,200 Speaker 1: moderate fortune. He was young, bold, active of an inviting aspect, 134 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:05,280 Speaker 1: and powerful elocution. In a word, he was in every 135 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:10,000 Speaker 1: way qualified to head a giddy and unthinking multitude. We're 136 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:12,840 Speaker 1: going to talk about what the giddy and unthinking multitude 137 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:24,080 Speaker 1: did after we first paused for a sponsor break. Nathaniel 138 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:27,240 Speaker 1: Bacon Jr. Was one of the many Virginia colonists who 139 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:30,400 Speaker 1: thought that the native population needed to be eliminated entirely, 140 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:33,880 Speaker 1: and his own words, one of his goals was quote 141 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:38,160 Speaker 1: not only to ruin and extirpate all Indians in general, 142 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:41,960 Speaker 1: but all manner of trade and commerce with them. But 143 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:45,840 Speaker 1: this wasn't just Bacon and the rebels attacking native people. 144 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: The tribes themselves already had their own conflicts and divisions, 145 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:55,160 Speaker 1: and Bacon took advantage of those conflicts to wage his campaign. 146 00:08:55,520 --> 00:08:59,000 Speaker 1: As one example, as a situation between the Susquehannics and 147 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:03,240 Speaker 1: the colonists had become more violent, the Susquehannics had needed 148 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:06,960 Speaker 1: to increase their numbers, so they pressured the members of 149 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:10,400 Speaker 1: other nearby nations described in records from the time as 150 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:14,840 Speaker 1: Monacan and an Electin to join them at their fort. Meanwhile, 151 00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:19,200 Speaker 1: another tribe, the Okanici, saw the conflict between the Susquehannas 152 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:22,000 Speaker 1: and the colonists as an opportunity to get rid of 153 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:25,440 Speaker 1: one of their rivals for territory and trade. The okan 154 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:29,079 Speaker 1: Echis colluded with the colonists and with the Monacan and 155 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:32,760 Speaker 1: an Electin, who all attacked the Susquehannics inside the fort 156 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:35,800 Speaker 1: where they were staying. Yeah, the okan Echi has made 157 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:39,400 Speaker 1: almost h like a Trojan Horse kind of situation where 158 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:42,520 Speaker 1: they persuaded these people who were taking shelter with the 159 00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:47,480 Speaker 1: Susquehanna tow to rise up against them from within. But uh, 160 00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:50,959 Speaker 1: the Okanicis having done this did not lead the colonists 161 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:53,480 Speaker 1: to form some kind of ongoing alliance with them or 162 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:56,720 Speaker 1: to offer them any sort of protection. When the okan 163 00:09:56,800 --> 00:09:59,360 Speaker 1: Echis went back to Bacon with news of their victory 164 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:03,559 Speaker 1: over the Susqua Hannock's, Bacon's force attacked them too, killing 165 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:06,439 Speaker 1: more than a hundred people and destroying their primary village. 166 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:11,120 Speaker 1: After all of these events, the surviving Oknicies and Susquehannocks 167 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:16,000 Speaker 1: each separately fled toward North Carolina. Meanwhile, Governor Berkeley, who 168 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:20,440 Speaker 1: had warned Bacon that his actions constituted mutiny, ejected Bacon 169 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:23,840 Speaker 1: from his council and declared him an outlaw. Then he 170 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:26,840 Speaker 1: dissolved the House of Burgesses and called for a new election, 171 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,040 Speaker 1: and proposed that when the new assembly convened, it should 172 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:33,600 Speaker 1: call for a new colonial governor. In this election, Henrico 173 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:37,520 Speaker 1: County elected Nathaniel Bacon is one of its burgesses. It's 174 00:10:37,559 --> 00:10:40,200 Speaker 1: not clear how many of the votes came from people 175 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:44,080 Speaker 1: who legitimately agreed with his methods, though I mean he 176 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:47,200 Speaker 1: had a lot of support among the like the poor 177 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:49,840 Speaker 1: farmers and the indentured people and the enslaved people. He 178 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:52,520 Speaker 1: did not have a lot of support among the rich people, 179 00:10:52,559 --> 00:10:55,360 Speaker 1: who at this point were the ones who could vote. 180 00:10:56,360 --> 00:11:01,320 Speaker 1: But there wasn't a printing press in Jamia at this time, 181 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:05,440 Speaker 1: so news was spread by somebody carrying a message physically 182 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:07,959 Speaker 1: into town and reading the message out loud at the 183 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:12,120 Speaker 1: courthouse steps. Bacon's militia and Henrico County had prevented the 184 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:15,559 Speaker 1: messenger from reading the proclamation that had declared him an outlaw, 185 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:17,840 Speaker 1: so it's possible that people voting in this election didn't 186 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:20,440 Speaker 1: even know about it, and it's also possible that his 187 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:24,520 Speaker 1: militia intimidated voters on election day. When Bacon arrived to 188 00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:28,120 Speaker 1: join the Assembly on June six, sixty six, he was 189 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:31,800 Speaker 1: captured and forced to apologize and denounce his actions before 190 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:34,679 Speaker 1: he was allowed to take his seat. After he had 191 00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:38,760 Speaker 1: done that, he was also restored to the Governor's council. Then, 192 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:41,120 Speaker 1: Bacon asked for a commission in the army that the 193 00:11:41,160 --> 00:11:45,000 Speaker 1: Assembly had decided to raise to fight the Susquehannics. The 194 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:48,560 Speaker 1: Assembly denied him this request, and after some arguing about it, 195 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:51,360 Speaker 1: the governor ejected him from the council that he had 196 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:54,960 Speaker 1: just been reinstated too. So Bacon left and then on 197 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:57,600 Speaker 1: June twenty three, he came back to Jamestown with five 198 00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:01,000 Speaker 1: hundred armed men. They surround founded the building where the 199 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:04,760 Speaker 1: Assembly was meeting, and then Bacon threatened them in an 200 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:09,920 Speaker 1: extremely dramatic confrontation that culminated with the governor baring his 201 00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:14,360 Speaker 1: chest and daring Bacon to shoot him. Bacon did not 202 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:17,559 Speaker 1: shoot him, but he did manage to extort the commission 203 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:21,120 Speaker 1: that he wanted from the Assembly. In general, the Assembly 204 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:24,120 Speaker 1: did not think fondly of Bacon at all, but he 205 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:28,040 Speaker 1: had the building surrounded with fusiliers. Not only did they 206 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:30,440 Speaker 1: make him commander in chief of the army, but they 207 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:33,560 Speaker 1: also pardoned him for everything that he had done since 208 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:36,839 Speaker 1: the start of March. And with that, Bacon left again 209 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:40,160 Speaker 1: to continue fighting. Yeah, he managed to extort a whole 210 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:42,680 Speaker 1: lot of stuff out of the Assembly that day. The 211 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:46,480 Speaker 1: Assembly went on meeting after he left and adjourned on June, 212 00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:50,000 Speaker 1: and by that point had passed a whole series of 213 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:52,559 Speaker 1: reforms to try to address some of the issues that 214 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:57,880 Speaker 1: had become sources of frustration. These reforms required, for example, 215 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:01,120 Speaker 1: that the office of sheriff be rotated annually, so one 216 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:03,839 Speaker 1: person could not become sheriff and stay there forever and 217 00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:08,400 Speaker 1: abuse his power. The new laws also forbade people from 218 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:11,960 Speaker 1: holding multiple offices at once. That came up in our 219 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:15,000 Speaker 1: episode on the regulator wars, where one person would be 220 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:17,680 Speaker 1: like the register of deeds and the sheriff and some 221 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,480 Speaker 1: other thing like this was happening in Virginia two. The 222 00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:24,160 Speaker 1: Assembly also addressed some of the colonists frustration with taxes 223 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:27,840 Speaker 1: and fees. They abolished the tax exemption that had applied 224 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:30,720 Speaker 1: to members of the Governor's Council, and they banned two 225 00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:33,680 Speaker 1: people who had reputations for abusing their power from ever 226 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:37,680 Speaker 1: holding public office again. The Assembly also repealed that sixteen 227 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:41,920 Speaker 1: seventy act that had disenfranchised landless people, so they restored 228 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:45,480 Speaker 1: lots of people's rights to vote. Meanwhile, as the Army's 229 00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:49,559 Speaker 1: commander in chief, Bacon continued his indiscriminate fighting against the 230 00:13:49,640 --> 00:13:53,280 Speaker 1: native people of the Chesapeake Bay Area. He also made 231 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:57,240 Speaker 1: exorbitant requests for funding for his fighting force. This led 232 00:13:57,280 --> 00:13:59,760 Speaker 1: Governor Berkeley to denounce him as a rebel and a 233 00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:03,120 Speaker 1: tree leader again, which led Bacon to issue a manifesto 234 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:06,559 Speaker 1: of his own denouncing the governor. Strangely, a whole lot 235 00:14:06,559 --> 00:14:09,680 Speaker 1: of the grievances spelled out in Bacon's manifesto were things 236 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:12,560 Speaker 1: that had just been addressed by the Assembly. He wrote 237 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:15,040 Speaker 1: a whole lot about unjust taxes and about the governor 238 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:19,680 Speaker 1: of playing favorites with his judicial appointments. The several of 239 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:22,800 Speaker 1: the points that he made were literally things that had 240 00:14:22,840 --> 00:14:25,360 Speaker 1: just been reversed by the Assembly. And then, of course 241 00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:29,560 Speaker 1: there's also a lot about the Native people. Bacon cites 242 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:32,560 Speaker 1: the Native involvement in the beaver trade as a problem, 243 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:37,200 Speaker 1: and he denounces the governor quote for having protected, favored, 244 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:43,400 Speaker 1: and emboldened the Indians against his Majesty's loyal subjects, never contriving, requiring, 245 00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:46,960 Speaker 1: or appointing any do or proper means of satisfaction for 246 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:52,600 Speaker 1: their many invasions, robberies, and murders committed upon us. The 247 00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:56,400 Speaker 1: manifesto also criticizes Governor Berkeley for having pulled the English 248 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:59,120 Speaker 1: army back from the fight, leaving the Native people, to 249 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:03,360 Speaker 1: quote bur Spoil and murther, I really like all the 250 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:08,560 Speaker 1: murdering that he talks about. Having thus denounced the Governor 251 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:11,840 Speaker 1: at length, Bacon turned the army against the Pamunkey tribe. 252 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:14,920 Speaker 1: Not only had the Pamunkey been allied with the Colony 253 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:17,600 Speaker 1: since the end of the Third Anglo poet In War, 254 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:20,160 Speaker 1: but they had also signed a treaty with the Colony 255 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:23,880 Speaker 1: just a few months before, after its leader Kakakoeski, had 256 00:15:23,880 --> 00:15:26,600 Speaker 1: agreed to provide about a dozen men for the Colony's 257 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:30,800 Speaker 1: war effort. Bacon's force massacred at least fifty members of 258 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:34,400 Speaker 1: the tribe and captured others. From there, Bacon turned his 259 00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:37,280 Speaker 1: attention toward trying to track down the governor, who had 260 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:39,840 Speaker 1: left the capital of Jamestown. To try to recruit more 261 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:43,040 Speaker 1: men for a fighting force of his own. Bacon had 262 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:46,280 Speaker 1: a small navy which found and attacked the governor's fleet 263 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:49,920 Speaker 1: on Virginia's eastern shore. That's that little strip of land 264 00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:54,280 Speaker 1: in northeast Virginia that's separated from the rest by Chesapeake Bay. 265 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:58,000 Speaker 1: The governor and his loyalist force won this battle, and 266 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:02,280 Speaker 1: they hanged several of Bacon's officers. Then both Bacon and 267 00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:06,240 Speaker 1: Berkeley started moving back towards Jamestown. Berkeley got there first 268 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:09,760 Speaker 1: on September eight, but then Bacon arrived and lay siege 269 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:12,440 Speaker 1: to the city for ten days, at which point Berkeley 270 00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:16,040 Speaker 1: and those still loyal to him fled. The rebels burned 271 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:20,000 Speaker 1: Jamestown on September nineteen. As Bacon started to gain the 272 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:23,680 Speaker 1: upper hand, more and more prominent Virginians started taking his 273 00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:28,240 Speaker 1: side in the dispute. With Jamestown destroyed, Bacon went back 274 00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:30,600 Speaker 1: to the Virginia frontier to try to search for any 275 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:34,080 Speaker 1: Native people that they hadn't already fought, and some of 276 00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:36,040 Speaker 1: his force went on the hunt for people who were 277 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:39,720 Speaker 1: loyal to the governor. These two forces probably would have 278 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:42,720 Speaker 1: done a whole lot more damage. But then Bacon died 279 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:47,080 Speaker 1: on October six, seventy six, of what was described as 280 00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:51,200 Speaker 1: the Bloody Flux. This is probably a combination of Typhus 281 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:56,000 Speaker 1: and Dysenterry. A day later, having no idea of Bacon's death, 282 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:59,080 Speaker 1: King Charles the Second issued a proclamation ordering that the 283 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:02,320 Speaker 1: rebellion be put down. It took about two more months 284 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:05,560 Speaker 1: of heavy fighting for the governor to finally regain control 285 00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:09,560 Speaker 1: of the colony. For much of November, rebel forces controlled 286 00:17:09,600 --> 00:17:13,159 Speaker 1: nearly all of the colony outside the eastern Shore, but 287 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:16,159 Speaker 1: in the end, after huge casualties on both sides, Governor 288 00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:19,720 Speaker 1: Berkeley did manage to regain control of the colony. In 289 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:23,320 Speaker 1: addition to the people killed in the fighting, Berkeley executed 290 00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:28,280 Speaker 1: twenty three of the rebellion's leaders. He also confiscated land 291 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:30,760 Speaker 1: and corn for many of the ones who had survived, 292 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:35,679 Speaker 1: and then he returned to Jamestown on January sixteen sixty seven. 293 00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:39,040 Speaker 1: A week later, three commissioners who had been dispatched from 294 00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:42,359 Speaker 1: England at the end of the previous year arrived. After 295 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:46,080 Speaker 1: the proclamation from the King. Francis Morrison, Sir John Barry, 296 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:49,200 Speaker 1: and Colonel Herbert Jeffreys had been sent to put down 297 00:17:49,240 --> 00:17:52,439 Speaker 1: the rebellion and to investigate what happened, and they had 298 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:55,960 Speaker 1: about one thousand soldiers with him by that point. Though 299 00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:59,679 Speaker 1: the rebellion was over, this whole investigation was a frustrating 300 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:02,880 Speaker 1: and rasment for Berkeley. He was about seventy years old 301 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:04,840 Speaker 1: and he had lost most of his hearings, so the 302 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:08,520 Speaker 1: questioning was difficult and it tended to escalate into both 303 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:12,240 Speaker 1: sides shouting at each other. But instead of being praised 304 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:16,440 Speaker 1: for restoring order, Berkeley was being investigated, and the investigation 305 00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:18,960 Speaker 1: found that his treatment of the rebels that he had 306 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:21,840 Speaker 1: put into play with all the hangings and confiscations was 307 00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:25,480 Speaker 1: overly harsh. As the commissioners were leaving, there was one 308 00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:28,800 Speaker 1: last incident described by one of the commissioner's clerks as 309 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:33,880 Speaker 1: quote the occasion of the scandalous postilion. Governor Berkeley's wife, Francis, 310 00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:36,399 Speaker 1: had arranged a carriage to take the commissioners back to 311 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:40,120 Speaker 1: their barge. As they approached the carriage, an African man 312 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:43,440 Speaker 1: replaced the coaches postilion. That was someone who rode along 313 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:45,880 Speaker 1: as a guide, and in this case may have also 314 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:50,159 Speaker 1: been the coaches driver, which wasn't entirely clear. The commissioners, 315 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:53,600 Speaker 1: having seen this happen, declined to get into the carriage, 316 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:55,960 Speaker 1: apparently they did not want to ride in the carriage 317 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:59,520 Speaker 1: that had just been given an African postilion, but the 318 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:03,000 Speaker 1: carriage followed them all the way to the river anyway. 319 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:07,600 Speaker 1: The commissioners later learned that this replacement postilion was one 320 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:11,200 Speaker 1: of the colonies hangman. It's possible that he wasn't really 321 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:13,560 Speaker 1: the hangman, but that this was a rumor. If it 322 00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:16,639 Speaker 1: was a rumor, it was definitely a rumor that they believed. 323 00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:19,600 Speaker 1: So there is a lot going on with this story, 324 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:23,719 Speaker 1: including that an African man was presumably entrusted with executing 325 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:26,960 Speaker 1: Europeans in the colony, and that the governor's wife seems 326 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:30,320 Speaker 1: to have arranged this as a spectacle to insult the commissioners. 327 00:19:31,119 --> 00:19:34,440 Speaker 1: Historian Susan Westbury argued in the two thousand four paper 328 00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:37,520 Speaker 1: that this was an example of Frances putting her political 329 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:40,240 Speaker 1: power as the governor's wife to use to try to 330 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:44,040 Speaker 1: support her husband. Probably did not help things. Though her 331 00:19:44,119 --> 00:19:46,840 Speaker 1: husband was removed from office, he was summoned back to 332 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:49,960 Speaker 1: England to answer for what he had done, But then 333 00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:52,879 Speaker 1: he died on July night, six seventy seven, before he 334 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:54,960 Speaker 1: had had the chance to give his account to the King. 335 00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:58,200 Speaker 1: We have other accounts, though, including one written by a 336 00:19:58,359 --> 00:20:02,840 Speaker 1: Mrs Ann Cotton in sixty eight six. Thomas Matthews, whose 337 00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:05,440 Speaker 1: dispute with the doeg had helped start this whole thing, 338 00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:08,280 Speaker 1: also wrote an account of it thirty years later at 339 00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:11,760 Speaker 1: the request of the First Earl of Oxford, Robert Harley, 340 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:13,800 Speaker 1: who at the time it was written with Secretary of 341 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:18,040 Speaker 1: State under Queen Anne. It's a mostly straightforward account, ending 342 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:21,880 Speaker 1: with Matthew's opinion that Bacon and his supporters were quote wheels, 343 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:25,280 Speaker 1: agitated by the weight of his former and present resentments 344 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:28,240 Speaker 1: after their cohler was raised up to a very high 345 00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:32,000 Speaker 1: pitch at having been so long and so often trifled with, 346 00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:35,240 Speaker 1: on their humble supplications to the Governor for his immediate 347 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:38,320 Speaker 1: taking in hand the most speedy means towards stopping the 348 00:20:38,359 --> 00:20:42,280 Speaker 1: continued effusions of so much English blood from time to 349 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:45,639 Speaker 1: time by the Indians. In other words, a bunch of 350 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:48,280 Speaker 1: frustrated people were mad at the governor for ignoring their 351 00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:52,760 Speaker 1: request to stop the native people, but it's so much 352 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:57,879 Speaker 1: more florid the other way. The king and his ministers 353 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:00,479 Speaker 1: repealed most of the reforms that had been passed by 354 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:04,080 Speaker 1: the sixteen seventy six Assembly. So from that perspective, a 355 00:21:04,119 --> 00:21:06,320 Speaker 1: lot of things went back to the way they were before. 356 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:09,600 Speaker 1: But at the same time, a lot changed in Virginia 357 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:11,719 Speaker 1: after this rebellion, and we're going to get to all 358 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:14,639 Speaker 1: of that after we have one more break from one 359 00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:25,040 Speaker 1: of the sponsors that keeps the show going. After Bacon's 360 00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:28,960 Speaker 1: rebellion was over, England negotiated a new treaty with several 361 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:31,320 Speaker 1: of the native tribes that had been affected by it, 362 00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:34,240 Speaker 1: and this became known as the Treaty of Middle Plantation, 363 00:21:34,359 --> 00:21:38,760 Speaker 1: which was signed on May sixteen, seventy seven. It acknowledged 364 00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:42,480 Speaker 1: that all this fighting had started with quote violent intrusions 365 00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:46,240 Speaker 1: made by the colonists against the tribes. The tribes who 366 00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:49,440 Speaker 1: signed this treaty gave up their sovereignty and became subjects 367 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:52,880 Speaker 1: of the monarch in exchange for peace and protection. Under 368 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:55,639 Speaker 1: the terms of this treaty, each quote Indian king and 369 00:21:55,760 --> 00:21:59,240 Speaker 1: queen had equal power to govern their own people, while 370 00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:02,320 Speaker 1: also giving kaka Koweski, described in the treaty as the 371 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:07,000 Speaker 1: queen of Monkey authority over several other tribes. At least 372 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:09,960 Speaker 1: one of these tribes refused to be placed under her leadership. 373 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:12,800 Speaker 1: Though yeah, this was these were tribes that had previously 374 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:16,359 Speaker 1: been sort of under the jurisdiction of the Monkey, and 375 00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:18,879 Speaker 1: they were like, we we were free of that. We 376 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:21,840 Speaker 1: don't need to go back to that anymore. Under the 377 00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:25,240 Speaker 1: Treaty of Middle Plantation, the native parties to the treaty 378 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:28,119 Speaker 1: were supposed to pay three arrows per year along with 379 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:31,240 Speaker 1: twenty beaver skins, and they were given the right to hunt, 380 00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:33,520 Speaker 1: to fish, and to gather. They were supposed to have 381 00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:36,639 Speaker 1: adequate land available to them, and they also had to 382 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:40,840 Speaker 1: agree to side with the colony against quote foreign Indians 383 00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:43,600 Speaker 1: who were not party to the treaty if there was 384 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:46,600 Speaker 1: some kind of violent conflict with them. Overall, this document 385 00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:49,560 Speaker 1: seems to attempt to treat fairly with the native people's 386 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:52,040 Speaker 1: but at the same time it did require the ones 387 00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:55,080 Speaker 1: that had not already become tributaries to the English to 388 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:58,320 Speaker 1: give up their sovereign team. And as the colonies and 389 00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:01,159 Speaker 1: later the U. S government's native policy became more and 390 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:04,840 Speaker 1: more similar to what Nathaniel Bacon had been advocating, its 391 00:23:04,960 --> 00:23:09,040 Speaker 1: terms weren't really honored. They were also increasingly undermined by 392 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:12,480 Speaker 1: anti Native laws, such as laws that prohibited Native people 393 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:16,159 Speaker 1: from testifying in court. Another big change that followed this 394 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:19,679 Speaker 1: was in the colony's labor. So Nathaniel Bacon, who was 395 00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:22,720 Speaker 1: a wealthy newcomer to the colony, managed to lead a 396 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:25,920 Speaker 1: rebellion that was mostly made up of the colonies lower classes, 397 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:31,320 Speaker 1: small free planters, indentured workers of all races, and enslaved Africans, 398 00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:34,679 Speaker 1: and they had all come together to fight against a 399 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:37,800 Speaker 1: perceived Native threat and then ultimately to turn against the 400 00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:42,399 Speaker 1: colonial government. And the colonial elite saw this uniting of 401 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:45,880 Speaker 1: all the lower classes together as a huge threat, so 402 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:49,159 Speaker 1: after this, the Assembly passed a series of laws separating 403 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:53,680 Speaker 1: the white and black population. Laws that specifically addressed the 404 00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:58,600 Speaker 1: African population and enslaved Africans in which prohibited interracial marriages. 405 00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:01,840 Speaker 1: Laws that allowed a person to be freed if they 406 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:05,320 Speaker 1: could prove that they were baptized were abolished. The law 407 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:09,639 Speaker 1: increasingly made divisions between black and white and slave and free. 408 00:24:10,119 --> 00:24:13,760 Speaker 1: The colony also focused less and less on using indentured 409 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:17,480 Speaker 1: workers and more and more on enslaved workers. Some of 410 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:19,800 Speaker 1: this was part of an ongoing trend, but some of 411 00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:23,119 Speaker 1: it was also a deliberate effort to move toward using 412 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:28,119 Speaker 1: slavery rather than indenture, because permanently enslaved people were considered 413 00:24:28,119 --> 00:24:31,520 Speaker 1: to be more easily controlled. But there were other factors 414 00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:35,480 Speaker 1: as well, including economic changes in England that made it 415 00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:38,320 Speaker 1: more expensive to negotiate indentures. And then of course word 416 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:41,480 Speaker 1: also got back to Europe. There was less and less 417 00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:44,679 Speaker 1: available land in North America. There were all kinds of 418 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:48,760 Speaker 1: conflicts going on. Things the idea of immigrating became less 419 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:52,800 Speaker 1: attractive to a lot of people. So Bacon's rebellion accelerated 420 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:56,720 Speaker 1: a shift that was already under way. In sixteen eighty three, 421 00:24:56,800 --> 00:25:00,000 Speaker 1: years after the rebellion ended, seven percent of the population 422 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:03,960 Speaker 1: and of Virginia and nearby Maryland were enslaved Africans. In 423 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:08,520 Speaker 1: twenty years that rose too. In seventeen oh five, the 424 00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:12,960 Speaker 1: General Assembly passed an Act concerning Servants and Slaves, which 425 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:16,240 Speaker 1: freed indentured servants at the age of twenty four while 426 00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:21,720 Speaker 1: codifying various aspects of slavery. This included outlawing resistance against 427 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:26,600 Speaker 1: white Christians by quote Negroes, Mulatto's, Indians, and others, and 428 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:30,240 Speaker 1: absolving enslavers from guilt if they killed a slave while 429 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:35,719 Speaker 1: administering punishment. The shift also affected the enslavement of Native Americans, 430 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:38,240 Speaker 1: and some of it was just a matter of numbers. 431 00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:41,919 Speaker 1: By the late seventeenth century, as the Transatlantic slave trade 432 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:45,120 Speaker 1: was bringing more and more Africans to North America, there 433 00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:48,440 Speaker 1: was less and less demand for enslaved Native Americans because 434 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:51,879 Speaker 1: there were just a lot more Africans available. The law 435 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:54,879 Speaker 1: on this continued to be kind of scattered, with the 436 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:58,480 Speaker 1: General Assembly confirming that it was legal to enslave Native 437 00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:01,480 Speaker 1: Americans in sixteen eighty two and then passing an act 438 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:04,680 Speaker 1: that said the opposite a year later. The Assembly also 439 00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:06,840 Speaker 1: used a law that had been passed back in sixteen 440 00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:10,639 Speaker 1: sixty five, so before the rebellion, to sell an entire 441 00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:14,560 Speaker 1: community into slavery in the Caribbean and retaliation for one 442 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:18,000 Speaker 1: murder that happened in seventeen oh five. A series of 443 00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:20,679 Speaker 1: court cases towards the end of the seventeen hundreds and 444 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:25,040 Speaker 1: into eighteen hundred ruled that Native people were free, and 445 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:29,200 Speaker 1: as was the case with enslavement, passing from an African 446 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:32,800 Speaker 1: mother to her children, that freedom passed from a Native 447 00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:36,199 Speaker 1: mother to her children. None of this happened overnight, and 448 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:38,480 Speaker 1: there was a lot of overlamp in the progression of 449 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:43,320 Speaker 1: indentured servitude and slavery in Virginia, But overall, Bacon's rebellion 450 00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:47,160 Speaker 1: accelerated those trends, leading the colony to turn to slavery 451 00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:51,200 Speaker 1: more than indenture into enslaved Africans more than Native Americans, 452 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:54,679 Speaker 1: until finally virtually all of the enslaved labor in the 453 00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:58,320 Speaker 1: colony was African, and slavery was viewed as something specific 454 00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:01,840 Speaker 1: to Africans and people of freaking descent. But none of 455 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:04,359 Speaker 1: this is how people thought about Bacon's rebellion in the 456 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:07,600 Speaker 1: years after it happened. This was especially true after the 457 00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:11,479 Speaker 1: Revolutionary War, which started a hundred years later, and the 458 00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:14,760 Speaker 1: wake of the Revolutionary War, people started thinking of Bacon's 459 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:18,639 Speaker 1: rebellion almost as a dress rehearsal to the revolution. A 460 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:21,840 Speaker 1: big proponent of this idea was Thomas Jefferson, who got 461 00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:24,919 Speaker 1: a copy of Thomas Matthew's account in eighteen o three. 462 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:28,199 Speaker 1: Jefferson arranged for this account to be printed in the 463 00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:31,840 Speaker 1: Richmond Inquirer in eighteen o four, along with his introduction, 464 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:35,280 Speaker 1: which read, in part quote, if this little book speaks 465 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:38,359 Speaker 1: the truth, Nathaniel Bacon will be no longer regarded as 466 00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:41,159 Speaker 1: a rebel, but as a patriot. His name will be 467 00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:43,679 Speaker 1: rescued from the infamy which has adhered to it for 468 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:47,439 Speaker 1: more than a century. The stigma of corruption, cruelty, and 469 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:50,639 Speaker 1: treachery will be fixed on the administration by which he 470 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:53,679 Speaker 1: was condemned, And one more case will be added to 471 00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:57,960 Speaker 1: those which prove that insurrections proceed oftener from the misconduct 472 00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:00,280 Speaker 1: of those in power than from the fact is and 473 00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:04,240 Speaker 1: turbulent temper of the people. This view that Bacon was 474 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:07,040 Speaker 1: a hero instead of a trader, and that the rebellion 475 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:10,840 Speaker 1: was an uprising against tyranny instead of a mutiny persisted 476 00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:15,520 Speaker 1: for a really long time. A man named Thomas Jefferson 477 00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:19,240 Speaker 1: Wurtenbacher wrote a book in nineteen forty that described Bacon 478 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:22,760 Speaker 1: as a patriotic hero. One of the essays that I 479 00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:26,400 Speaker 1: read while researching this described this book as quote one 480 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:29,960 Speaker 1: of the worst books on Virginia their reputable scholarly historian 481 00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:33,960 Speaker 1: ever published, and even in recent articles that acknowledge some 482 00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:35,960 Speaker 1: of the context to all of this. There is a 483 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:39,400 Speaker 1: startling amount of phrasing that suggests that Berkeley was to 484 00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:43,200 Speaker 1: blame because he ignored what the colonists wanted, which was 485 00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:47,080 Speaker 1: to get rid of the native population. Yeah, that one 486 00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:49,880 Speaker 1: of the first I have access to, like all kinds 487 00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:55,200 Speaker 1: of encyclopedia type resources through various libraries, and a lot 488 00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:57,200 Speaker 1: of times that's where I will sort of start with 489 00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:00,720 Speaker 1: either a refresher or some background information or type of thing. 490 00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:02,560 Speaker 1: And there was one that was sort of the two 491 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:07,240 Speaker 1: paragraph summary of Bacon's rebellion that really made it sound like, well, 492 00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:10,080 Speaker 1: if the governor had just done what the colonists asked 493 00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:12,320 Speaker 1: him to do, it would have been avoided. And I 494 00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:16,400 Speaker 1: was like, the governor or, the colonists are asking him 495 00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:19,320 Speaker 1: to exterminate people. That just doesn't seem like a great 496 00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:21,960 Speaker 1: conclusion to be drawing in this thing that was written 497 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:26,840 Speaker 1: within the last two decades. Ye, what's your scoop? On 498 00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:32,520 Speaker 1: listener mail? More uplifting? It is definitely more fun. It 499 00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:35,560 Speaker 1: is from Greg. Greg says Hi tracing Holly as a 500 00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:37,680 Speaker 1: long time listener. I thought I'd right to let you 501 00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:41,320 Speaker 1: know what an interesting podcast you did on Sappo My 502 00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:44,520 Speaker 1: family History traces its roots to the Greek mainland and 503 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:47,360 Speaker 1: to Armenia. A great many years ago, my parents took 504 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:50,000 Speaker 1: the family on a summer vacation to Europe, spending some 505 00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:53,440 Speaker 1: time driving around the continent, including a sailboat cruise along 506 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:56,720 Speaker 1: some of the Greek islands. That cruise ran into some weather, 507 00:29:56,880 --> 00:29:59,480 Speaker 1: and to avoid becoming a sequel to Gilligan's Island, we 508 00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:01,720 Speaker 1: took ref in the port of one of the smaller, 509 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:04,680 Speaker 1: non touristy islands for a few days. That gave us 510 00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:07,160 Speaker 1: a chance to wander it's quite narrow streets and local 511 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:10,680 Speaker 1: restaurants without the crowds and commotion that accompany the more 512 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:14,560 Speaker 1: popular destinations. Listening to your podcast brought back some memories 513 00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:17,720 Speaker 1: of that wonderful trip, and I found myself on Google 514 00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:21,120 Speaker 1: street View wandering around the streets of the island of 515 00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:24,320 Speaker 1: Les Bus as Sappho might have done while listening to 516 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:28,080 Speaker 1: you read her poetry. I suppose, though the architecture might 517 00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:30,080 Speaker 1: have been just a little different back then. Keep up 518 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:32,760 Speaker 1: the good work, Greg. Thank you Greg for this note. 519 00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:35,960 Speaker 1: I love that idea of using Google street View to 520 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:38,440 Speaker 1: kind of go visit a place that you're hearing about 521 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:43,040 Speaker 1: on the podcast. I also love the Greek spelling slash 522 00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:46,960 Speaker 1: pronunciation of les bus there because it's definitely a be 523 00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:49,840 Speaker 1: in English. But apparently if you go to Greece they 524 00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:53,560 Speaker 1: will insist that that is not a B. So thank 525 00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:56,160 Speaker 1: you Greg for sending us that note. That is a 526 00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:58,640 Speaker 1: pretty ingenious thing to do. I have to say, yeah, 527 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:01,400 Speaker 1: I have used I mean, I make use of Google 528 00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:03,520 Speaker 1: street View a lot for all kinds of you know, 529 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:06,280 Speaker 1: is it is there a sidewalk this place? I am 530 00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:10,240 Speaker 1: planning to walk that kind of thing, um, but like this, 531 00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:12,840 Speaker 1: using it to sort of see what's this place like 532 00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:15,800 Speaker 1: now in this podcast I'm listening to. That sounds really cool. 533 00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:18,200 Speaker 1: If you would like to write to us about this 534 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:20,800 Speaker 1: or any other podcast or in history podcast at how 535 00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:22,960 Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com and then we're all over social 536 00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:26,640 Speaker 1: media Missed in History. That's where you will find our Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, 537 00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:29,840 Speaker 1: and Twitter. You can come to our website, which is 538 00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:32,440 Speaker 1: missing history dot com, where there is a searchable archive 539 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:34,760 Speaker 1: of all the episodes we've done and show notes for 540 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:37,480 Speaker 1: the episodes Holly and I have worked on together. And 541 00:31:37,600 --> 00:31:40,040 Speaker 1: you can subscribe to our show and Apple podcast, by 542 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:42,640 Speaker 1: heart radio app and anywhere else to get your podcasts. 543 00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:49,600 Speaker 1: Stuff You Missed in History Class is a production of 544 00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:52,720 Speaker 1: I heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more podcasts for 545 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:56,000 Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart radio app, Apple Podcasts, 546 00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:58,040 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.