Thesis:
Was it right for the Indians to be treated poorly during Bacon's Rebellion?
I. The Indians weren’t selfish.
-----A. [THEY SAY] It was their land to begin with and then the colonist took over part of it, yet they still pushed for more, with or without valid reason.
----------1. "The Indians had their land seized by white frontiersman."
-----------------a. "A Young People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn and Rebecca Stefoffs
----------2. “Bacon’s Rebellion started with trouble on Virginia’s western frontier. By the 1670s rich landowners controlled most of eastern Virginia. As a result, many ordinary people felt that they were pushed towards the frontier. Life was more dangerous there.”
----------------a. “A Young People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn and Rebecca Stefoffs
-----B. [I SAY] The colonists where very greedy. They received a big portion of land and yet they kept wanting more. Whether or not the hand enough land to give to the indentured servants as they had promised or not, they shouldn’t have continued to go into the Indian land boundaries that they had formerly said they would protrude. I think that it was the Indians had all the right to be unhappy about this issue. After all, any of us today would be mad if that were to happen to us now.
II. The Indians clearly weren’t harming the colonists.
-----A. Some of the English people were on the Natives side, especially the government.
----------1. “The settlers had problems with the Native Americans. They wanted the colony’s leaders to fight the Indians, but the politicians and big landowners who ran the colony wouldn’t fight.”
----------------a. “A Young People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn and Rebecca Stefoffs
----------2. “When Bacon began his private war against Indians, Berkeley—who hoped to keep the peace among the frontiers – declared the upstart a rebel.”
----------------a. “The Old Dominion in the Seventeenth Century” by Warren Billings, ed.
-----B. [I SAY] If the Indians were really in the wrong about how they were acting towards the colonists, the government of Virginia would have done something about it, even if it were to only something slight. If it were to be slight, then they would be maintaining the piece and still able to maintain trade with the Indians, yet defend and protect their people at the same time. If it was really that big of an issue, the government would have had to step in and do something about it. But they didn’t, therefore showing that the Indians were treating the colonists in a proper and acceptable manner.
III. Bacon might not have even had probable cause for starting the rebellion.
-----A. [THEY SAY] Some see Bacon as a hero, helping the poor farmers. Whereas others think he may have been doing it out of his own greed.
---------1. “Bacon owned a good bit of land. He probably cared more about fighting Indians than about helping the poor. Still, the common people of Virginia felt that he was on their side.”
--------------a. “A Young People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn and Rebecca Stefoffs
---------2. “Another [referring to one of the members of Governor Berkeley’s council] said that the Indian problem was the original cause of Bacon’s Rebellion, but the poor people had joined because they wanted to seize and share the wealth of the rich.”
--------------a. “A Young People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn and Rebecca Stefoffs
----B. [I SAY] Like is said in the quote, bacon might have cared more about fighting Indians than about helping the poor. For all we know he could have been finding excuses to fight the Indians out his own selfish hatred. Bacon could have very well been an inspirational speaker and convinced many people to believe that his cause was just and was for those people. But after all, was a few Indians killing one of his dear friends reason enough to start hatred against Indians as a whole, even the ones that were their "friends"? Also, many of Bacon’s supporters were only contributing out of their own wants for more money because after all, the major groups fighting in Bacon’s Rebellion were the Rich Englishmen and the Indians, verses the Poor farmers and Bacon, so money/class was of great relevance.
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