Bacon’s Rebellion and The Shaping of Racial Divisions in The American Colonies and the United States
According to historian Edmund S. Morgan Bacon’s Rebellion, which erupted in Virginia in 1676, was the largest rebellion that took place in any colony before the American Revolution (308). As Ira Berlin remarks, it was the historical event that triggered the redefinition of notions regarding race in North America.
In 17th century Virginia was a multi-racial society with a hierarchical class structure. Native Americans, Europeans and Africans coexisted and interacted openly. Certainly each race distinguished itself from the others and even though there is the possibility that ideas of superiority of one race over the others existed, what was more important in this society was not so much race as the social hierarchy, in which a few were on top and the majority was on bottom (Berlin).
On top were the planter elite, which possessed large plots of land. The planters called the rest of the classes below them the “giddy multitude”. The “giddy multitude” consisted of indentured servants, slaves and poor landless freemen. The indentured servants were people who exchanged work for a certain number of years for transportation to Virginia. In many cases they were treated in the same way as slaves. After completing their servitude they became freemen and had the right to own land. However, the planters were trying to find ways to restrict free workers’ access to land and secure a cheap labor force for themselves by extending the time of servitude (Takaki 58). The majority of free laborers was living in poverty and often got into debt. In the lowest rank of social stratification were the slaves, the majority of which were blacks, who went from Africa to West Indies and from there to Virginia. However, not all blacks were slaves. Many were indentured servants and some were even planters (Breen 6-7). This angry and disappointed “giddy multitude” constituted Nathaniel Bacon’s army, which revolted against the planter elite, but the rebellion was suppressed.
After the crushing of the rebellion the planters, fearing the emergence of a new one, attempted to reorganize society on the basis of class and race, which led to the formation of the basis for future racial divisions (Takaki 60). The planters shifted from indentured servitude to slavery as primary source of labor force, since they didn’t want to continue relying on indentured servants, who had the right to carry arms and more means to rebel against them. Slaves started to arrive to Virginia in such large numbers that by the end of the century they were almost half of the population of the county. The way whites viewed black people changed rapidly. The new slaves came directly from Africa without stopping in Barbados, where in the past they would learn English and adapt to the new culture. The conditions of their transportation were horrible. They were people of any age and both sexes, who arrived naked and looked like animals to most white Virginians. …
