Nothing at all?
I'd think our American History buffs would eat this up. It's an interesting and important event that isn't often brought up on this site.
A small piece of advice would be to explain WHAT it was, WHEN it was, WHAT happened in response to it, WHAT you know that might have happened differently, and what YOU think
Otherwise you are demanding that people go and research all these things to answer a question they don't even know if they are interested in
I for one have no clue...Give me one!
Best Regards
Grey Wolf
Nothing at all?
I'd think our American History buffs would eat this up. It's an interesting and important event that isn't often brought up on this site.
I'm not sure people are that interested in this time period of American history. I asked the exact same question a few weeks ago, and didn't get much of an answer.
Going by Wikipedia (which I'm ashamed to say is all I know of Bacon's Rebellion), I wonder if the more interesting POD would involve the rebellion never being fought - for instance, if Governor Berkeley gives Bacon his damn commission and everything gets smoothed over. In that case, the reforms of the 1676 House of Burgesses would stand, including universal male suffrage, and the laws surrounding slaves and free blacks are not tightened. Maybe this would lead Virginia to develop into a yeoman society more like Pennsylvania rather than the aristocratic society of OTL, possibly even abolishing slavery at some point.
If the rebellion does break out, then - again according to Wikipedia - it appears that Bacon had influential backers and a sizable force for that place and time. The rebellion was defeated for three reasons: naval forces were on hand to help Berkeley, Bacon died of dysentery and left it without a leader, and the loyalists were able to trick many of the rebels into captivity. So let's say that the ships aren't there - or better yet, that a different ship is on hand, commanded by a buddy of one of Bacon's supporters. Instead of helping to suppress the rebellion, this ship takes Berkeley into exile (shades of the Rum Rebellion), and a populist government rules in Virginia for a while until the king appoints a new governor. Depending on how good a case Bacon's backers can make in London, they might be able to secure pardons for the rebels and even ratification of their acts. I don't know much more about the politics and players of the time, but a populist government with free blacks as an important constituency would seem to change Virginia beyond recognition.
Well if you insist.
Bacon's Rebellion occurred in colonial Virginia in the year 1676, one hundred years before the American Revolution. It was the first colonial rebellion in North America against the English Crown.
Nathaniel Bacon, a local landowner and politician, asked the governor of Virginia for a commission to attack the Native American tribes raiding the frontier, but was not given such. So, Bacon decidedly formed a militia and ignored the governor Berkley, and led 500 men and attacked the wrong tribes. He came back to overthrow the government in favor of a more populist regime in Jamestown, then the capital of Virginia, and burned it to the ground.
The rebellion was quelled when he died of dysentery. English ships were nearby and helped subdue any pockets of rebellion left.
A VERY important aspect of Bacon's Rebellion is that it saw the alliance of white indentured servants and black slaves. It was after this rebellion that the traditional caste system associated with plantation agriculture in the south was instituted to prevent such unity again.
I have think this has HUGE ramifications for how the south turns out, and if it succeeds would completely alter race relations across the board
Can it succeed? Wouldn't England just send over more troops and crush it? I don't know if Bacon can succeed against them.