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MODULE 2.3a The Regions of British Colonies 75

2.5 Indentured Servants and
Enslaved People in Six
These sample pages are distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
2.0 Maryland Counties (1662–
1717) Although based on a
study of estate inventories
Thousands 1.5 from six Maryland counties,
this chart illustrates a
1.0
Copyright (c) 2024 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
dramatic shift in the
Chesapeake labor force
0.5
between 1662 and 1717.
Strictly for use with its products. NOT FOR REDISTRIBUTION.
0.0 What does the trend
1660 1670 1680 1690 1700 1710 1720 shown here suggest about
Year the nature and conditions of
Indentured servants Enslaved people labor on Chesapeake farms?

was related to Berkeley by marriage, but that did not stop him from defying the gov-
HEW_9462_03_F02 Indentured Servants and Slaves
ernor’s authority and raising an army to attack American Indians across the colony.
First proof
Bacon’s Rebellion had begun. Bacon’s Rebellion
Frontier farmers formed an important part of Bacon’s coalition, but affluent planters An uprising in Virginia led
who had been left out of Berkeley’s inner circle also joined Bacon in hopes of gaining access by Nathaniel Bacon in 1676.
to power and profits, as did bound laborers, Black and white, who assumed that anyone Bacon and his followers
who opposed the governor was on their side. Bacon’s gathering forces included free, inden- were upset by the Virginia
governor’s unwillingness to
tured, and enslaved Black people rebelling for greater freedoms and opportunities. send troops to intervene in
In the summer of 1676, Governor Berkeley declared Bacon guilty of treason. conflicts between settlers
Rather than waiting to be captured, Bacon led his army toward Jamestown. Berkeley and American Indians and by
then arranged a hastily called election to undercut the rebellion. Even though Berke- the lack of representation of
ley had barred men without property from voting, Bacon’s supporters won control of western settlers in the House
the House of Burgesses, and his movement gained new followers. These included “news of Burgesses.
wives,” lower-class women who spread information (and rumors) about oppressive con-
ditions to aid the rebels. As Bacon and his followers marched across Virginia, his men
plundered the plantations of Berkeley and his supporters. In September, they reached
Jamestown after the governor and his administration fled across Chesapeake Bay. The
rebels burned the capital to the ground, victory seemingly theirs.
Only a month later, however, Bacon died of dysentery, and the movement he formed
unraveled. Governor Berkeley, using reinforcements brought by the English navy, quickly
reclaimed power. He hanged twenty-three rebel leaders and urged his followers to plunder
the estates of planters who had supported Bacon. But he could not undo the damage to
American Indian relations on the Virginia frontier. Bacon’s army had killed or enslaved
hundreds of once-friendly American Indians and left behind a tragic, bitter legacy.
An even more important consequence of the rebellion was that wealthy planters
and investors realized the depth of frustration among poor whites who were willing to
make common cause with their Black counterparts. Having regained power, the planter
elite worked to crush any such interracial alliance. Virginia legislators began to improve
the conditions and rights of poor white settlers while imposing new restrictions on Black
people. At nearly the same time, in an effort to meet the growing demand for labor in
the West Indies and the Chesapeake, King Charles II chartered the Royal African Com-
pany in 1672 to transport enslaved Africans to North America. Thus, the march toward
full-blown racial slavery in the English colonies began as enslaved labor quickly replaced
indentured servitude in the plantation colonies.

REVIEW

■ How did Nathaniel Bacon justify his rebellion?
■ What were the results of his rebellion?

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