As a result of Bacon’s Rebellion, the upper class feared that their wealth, power, and comfort were at risk. The upper class of colonial America were the lawmakers, the money changers, the men of commerce, the clergy. To protect themselves, they created distractions from how they were living and making money by causing the slaves and servants they felt threatened by to view each other with animosity.

As an analogy, imagine you are a parent with two children. You live together under the same roof. One child you punish more severely for the same behavior, speak poorly of, and provide food, clothing, and education of lesser quality than the other child. The poorly treated child is scantily represented in family photo albums and when there is a picture, it’s pitiful or not flattering.

The favored child is told that they, unlike their sibling, are most like you and therefore good on all measures. Just as groomed, they develop to feel superior to their sibling. And what of the inferiorly treated child? This type of child-rearing has consequences.