A SURVEY OF AMERICAN HISTORY

Unit 1: Colonialism and NationhoodPart 8: Civil Unrest and Authoritarianism

WILLIAM BERKELEY: GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA

Earlier in Virginia, Governor William Berkeley had enacted friendlier policies towards the local Native Americans. These policies resulted in slow government responses to Native American attacks on settlers.

Unfortunately for Berkeley, his wife’s nephew, Nathaniel Bacon, believed that the governor’s policies were too friendly. Bacon rose up against Berkeley and attempted to overthrow the colonial government.

NATHANIEL BACON

• Berkeley’s slow responses to Native American attacks made it easy for his opponents to undermine his authority.

• In 1674, Bacon took command of a militia of 500 men who were intent on attacking the local Native Americans.

• In July 1676, Bacon and his men denounced Berkeley in their Declaration of the People of Virginia. They also issued a manifesto in which they called for the extermination of all Native Americans.

NATHANIEL BACON

• Bacon marched his men into Jamestown and forced the government to make him a general. Berkeley’s response was to declare Bacon to be in unlawful rebellion against the colonial government.

• Months of conflict followed.

• In September 1676, Bacon and his men returned to Jamestown and burned it to the ground.

• Bacon died of dysentery in October 1676, effectively bringing his rebellion to an end.

NATHANIEL BACON

• In early 1677, after news of Bacon’s Rebellion reached King Charles II, Governor Berkeley was relieved of his authority and recalled to England.

• Later that year, King Charles II signed a treaty with the Native Americans, known as the Treaty of Middle Plantation, which forced them to swear allegiance to England in exchange for being allowed to retain their territories and hunting rights.

INTERREGNUM AND RESTORATION

• In 1686, following the Puritans’ refusal to recognise the authority of King Charles II, the English Government decided to end the royal charter that allowed Massachusetts Bay to be a colony in the first place.

• In 1691, Massachusetts Bay was consolidated with the other New England colonies into the Dominion of New England, which was effectively ruled as a dictatorship by a governor appointed by the king.

INCREASE MATHER: MINISTER AND POLITICIAN

Increase Mather was a Puritan minister in Boston who stirred up public opposition to both the charter that created the Dominion of New England and a previous royal order that prohibited anti-Catholic discrimination.

In 1692, after a royal revolution in England, a new charter was issued. Abolishing the Dominion dictatorship, it established an elected government, extended suffrage, and united the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies.

COTTON MATHER: MINISTER AND AUTHOR

The son of Increase Mather, Cotton Mather and his father were both involved in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and 1693. His essay ‘The Devil in New England’ voices his belief in the prevalence of witchcraft.

“At prodigious Witch- meetings… Wretches have proceeded so far, as to Concert and Consult the Methods of Rooting out the Christian Religion from this Country.”

Mather has since gained notoriety for his use of prejudicial reasoning and for his reliance on ‘spectral evidence’ during the trials. This practice allowed disembodied spirits to testify against the accused.

“At prodigious Witch- meetings… Wretches have proceeded so far, as to Concert and Consult the Methods of Rooting out the Christian Religion from this Country.”

COTTON MATHER: MINISTER AND AUTHOR

THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS (1692-1693)

• Twenty people, mostly women, were executed for witchcraft between February 1692 and May 1693. They were either hanged or pressed to death. Others who were accused of witchcraft died in prison.

• In the winter of 1692, three young girls in Salem were struck by sudden and inexplicable fits.

• When other women in Salem began to be struck by the same fits, the Puritans saw demonic possession at work.

THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS (1692-1693)

• At first, three social outcasts were accused of ‘afflicting’ the women of Salem by hiding in the woods and practising witchcraft with the help of the Devil. One was a beggar, one was not especially religious, one was a slave — and all of them were women.

• When some people questioned the validity of the charges against the three women, they too were accused of witchcraft or of conspiring with witches.

THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS (1692-1693)

• The trials were a farce. The words of young children were taken out of context in order to convict their parents, and the court was even allowed to hear testimony from the ghosts of dead people who were said to speak through others.

• Eventually, people in Salem began accusing their enemies of witchcraft simply to ruin their lives. When the Puritan authorities in Boston realized this, the trials came to an end.

A SURVEY OF AMERICAN HISTORY

Unit 1: Colonialism and NationhoodPart 8: Civil Unrest and Authoritarianism