The misuse of power by Governor Berkley was the main cause for Nathaniel Bacon and his followers to rebel.

1) 2. Section two is about Indians.
--a) The first paragraph in this section will summarize the discussion, or “they say” going on about government with some quotes and paraphrasing.
----i) This will include the reason it started as shown in Document 2 by the Royal Commissioners by summarizing that “the violence between the Indians and the Colonists started by with a misunderstanding over proper payment and escalated from there into full scale battles”.
----ii) This will include what the Indians were doing as told by Document 5 quoting that the Susquehannahs had murdered over a short period “No less than 60 innocent people”.
----iii) This will include Bacon and his follower’s views on what they did from Bacon’s Declaration quoting “Another main article of our giult is our open and manifest aversion of all, not onely the Foreign but the protected and Darling Indians” and paraphrasing that “he calls the Indians robbers, thieves, invaders, barbarous outlaws, and that Bacon then moves on to claim Berkeley is supplying them with firearms and ammunition” and Document 4 by the Royal Commissioners summarizing that “Berkeley started to retaliate against the repeated attacks on innocent colonists, however he halted said retaliation at the last moment for seemingly no reason”, and Document 14 by the same source will be summarized to say “According to Mrs. William Bird, messages were sent daily to Governor Berkeley and yet he continued to do nothing, so Bacon took matters into his own hands.”
----iv) This will include talk of forts from Document 6 from The History of Bacon’s and Ingram’s Rebellion, 1676 paraphrasing it to say “it was designed as to stop the Indians, but after a large amount of time and money, did not live up to its design” and Document 10 from the Royal Commissioners Narrative will be summarized to say that “the citizens of the Isle of Wight County stated that they were burdened by even greater taxes to obtain forts that not only didn’t help, but ruined their country”.
--b) The second part will be the “I say” part.
----i) This will state my opinion that the Governor misused his power by not creating an effective defense plan or countermeasure against the Indians.
----ii) This will support this claim with evidence from the “they say” section.
2) Section 3 is Economy.
--a) The first paragraph will discuss taxes, allocation of public funds, and other things drawing upon many sources
----i) Bacon’s Declaration will be quoted as saying “[L]et us also consider wither any Publick work for our safety and defense or for the Advancement and propagation of Trade, liberall Arts or sciences is here Extant in any way adaquate to our vast chardg” and then summarize his earlier points by saying that “this, in conjunction with a few of his other points, is said in order for the reader to see how the taxes are spent, not for the public, but for the elite and the Governor’s ‘cronies’.”
----ii) Document 1 by Robert Beverly will be paraphrased as saying that “one of the four main causes for Bacon’s Rebellion was the extreme taxes” which were set by the governor.
----iii) Document 10 from Royal Commissioners Narrative will be summarized as saying “The citizens of the Isle of Wight County stated that they were burdened with ever increasing taxes that were only made worse by the building of the forts.”
----iv) Document 12 from Nathaniel Bacon by quoting that “[O]ur present Governor monopolized a trade with the Indians and granted licenses to other to trade with the for which he had every 3rd skin [beaver or fox pelt]”
--b) The second part will discuss how this displeased the general population referring back to part 1 for reference.
3) Section 4 is about Political Power.
--a) This will draw upon the other two sections and Documents 35 and 39 and the William and Mary Quarterly to suggest that Berkeley’s show of power throughout the kingdom posed a perfect example for anyone wishing to obtain power, and then will go on to suggest that this was likely Nathaniel Bacon’s underlying reason for leading the cause.
----i) The William and Mary Quarterly contains a letter from the citizens of the Isle of Wight that I will summarize as “apologizing to the Berkeley for the things they said and did against him, and claiming they were granted forgiveness by him”, this I will use to show showing just how much power he wielded.
----ii) Document 35 will be quoted as saying “We were then as unable to resist his will and commands… as his Honor had been in granting his commission…. And for fear of death were all of us forced to do what we did in opposing Sir Wm. Berkeley”
----iii) Document 39 will be summarized to say that “Bacon even allegedly went as far as to suggest recession from England”
4) Section 5 shows Bacon’s Rebellion’s relevance to today
--a) I will use my article from the Washington Post to show how this ingrained upon Virginia the since of the right to own firearms, pointing out that even today’s politician’s views on gun control will be a large factor as to who gets the vote.
5) Citations
--a) Isle of Wight County: Papers Relating to Bacon's Rebellio
Lyon G. Tyler
The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Oct., 1895), pp. 111-115
Published by: Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture
--b) http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2008/10/will_guns_sink_obama_in_va.html (unsure what format you wish to have it cited, mla, apa, etc)