This blog is inspired by Bacon’s Rebellion in colonial Virginia. In a nutshell, it was a revolt by ordinary people against their treatment by the powers that be. The “ordinary people” were slaves and servants of no particular distinction at that time except that, perhaps, they were not Native Americans but they were poor and uneducated. The “powers that be” were the ruling class.
After Bacon’s Rebellion, the ruling class feared the combined might of servants and slaves. They concluded that their wealth, privilege, and status were at stake. Using their positions as lawmakers and powerful influencers in every facet of daily living, they successfully implemented divide and conquer strategies intended to make slaves and servants view each other with resentment. It was and continues to be a brilliant distraction. They created a social order based on skin color, calculating that resentment based on race would be more powerful than resentment of the upper class. However, the ideals of the United States of America charge its citizenry to establish a more perfect union.
1
