Bacon's Rebellion

From Encyclopediak

Bacon's Rebellion, an uprising of Virginian colonists, in 1676, under a wealthy lawyer, Nathaniel Bacon, against the government, which was headed by Governor Berkeley. Unfair taxes, enforcement of the navigation laws and, finally, the governor's inactivity in resisting the Indians were causes for the outburst. Having raised a company, Bacon was refused a commission to fight the Indians. Notwithstanding, he marched out and, though a commission was later granted; he was proclaimed a rebel. Returning from the frontier, he defied Berkeley by burning Jamestown, when he died suddenly of malarial fever. The backbone of the rebellion was thus broken. Twenty-three of Bacon's most prominent followers were executed.