Bacon’s Rebellion

Bacon’s Rebellion was an armed uprising in the Virginia colony in 1676 led by planter Nathaniel Bacon against the government of Gov. William Berkeley. The rebellion was the first major popular revolt in England’s North American colonies and reflected tensions over frontier settlement, relations with Native Americans, political authority, and access to land. Although the uprising lasted only a few months, it exposed deep divisions within colonial Virginia. While long thought to be a precursor...