Bacon's Rebellion Research Paper

As the institution of slavery grew, with the start of John Punch’s lifetime servitude, the dynamic of indentured servants to slavery changed drastically. Between 1640 and 1662, slave-owners started to demand for more legislation making lifelong servitude the common contract for all incoming Africans. In 1660, children born would take the legal status of their mother. Children born to slaves would be considered slaves, a condition slaves did not face in West Africa. Slowly, the differences between slavery in West Africa and Americas started to be more apparent and the treatment in Americas was far more hostile. Eventually these laws became more restrictive because plantation owners developed a system of punishments and strict control. At this point, slaves were unable to get married, …show more content…
Another turning point in the transition of indentured servitude to slavery was Bacon’s rebellion in 1976. Bacon’s Rebellion was a revolt of former indentured servants against larger plantation owners. In short, Bacon’s Rebellion was stirred up due to rich plants not willing to give up their land for indentured servants. Part of this is because Native Americans still held some land to their own. Nathaniel Bacon urged colonial authorities to take the land away from Native Americans; however, it was not taken seriously. Bacon brought together African slaves, servants, along with other white servants to burn down Jamestown which instilled fear into plantation owners and Virginia officials. In response, the officials added more rigid social controls on Africans and by the end of the 1670s, slavery was fully institutionalized. Bacon’s Rebellion had a ripple effect among all the colonies for the next few decades in the New World as seen in Peter Kalm’s paper on Unfree Labor in Pennsylvania. In the 1700s, slaves wrote petitions to their masters in order to earn more rights. The effects of slavery can be seen in these