In 1676 Nathaniel Bacon, a small planter from western Virginia, led several expeditions against Native Americans, ostensibly in retaliation for violence against frontier settlers. Although Governor William Berkeley neither authorized nor supported these attacks, Bacon and his supporters waged war on Native Americans. Eventually, the rebels forced the governor to flee Jamestown, and they razed the town. In The Divided Dominion Ethan A. Schmidt unpacks the actions of lower-class colonial Virginians, oppressed by larger planters who monopolized all forms of power in the colony. Schmidt opens with a description of the inconsequential 1673 Lawne’s Creek uprising, which had many of the same social underpinnings as Bacon’s more famous rebellion. Schmidt argues that the distinguishing factor in Bacon’s Rebellion was the hatred for Indians that Bacon exploited, fostering broad support across social classes.
The first three chapters cover the years of settlement and the First and Second Anglo-Powhatan Wars. Chapter 4...
