Bacon’s Rebellion (1676, in colonial Virginia) is a pivotal event for understanding the intertwining of classism and racism in early American history. Here’s how the two themes play into it:

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1. Classism: A Revolt of the Poor Against the Elite

• The rebellion was led by Nathaniel Bacon, a wealthy planter, but it drew support from indentured servants, landless whites, and some enslaved Africans.

• These groups were united by resentment against the wealthy planter elite (governor William Berkeley and his allies) who monopolized land, political power, and trade with Native Americans.

• For poor whites and bond laborers, land ownership was their only route to independence, but elites restricted access to it. The rebellion expressed class resentment against entrenched hierarchies in the colony.

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2. Racism: The Aftermath and Invention of “Whiteness”

• During the rebellion, some white and Black laborers fought side by side. That cross-racial solidarity was threatening to the planter class.

• After suppressing the revolt, Virginia’s elites intentionally hardened racial divisions to prevent future alliances across class lines.

  • Laws were passed that enslaved Africans permanently and made slavery hereditary.

  • Poor whites, even if landless, were given small privileges (access to arms, lighter punishments, and some social recognition) that distinguished them from Black people.

  • This was the beginning of what historians often call the "racial bribe"—using race to fracture class solidarity.

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3. The Larger Meaning

• Classism: The rebellion exposed deep inequalities in colonial society, where wealth and land were concentrated in the hands of a few elites.

• Racism: In response, the elite constructed race as a social category to divide the laboring classes, ensuring that poor whites would identify more with elites (through “whiteness”) than with Black workers.

• Thus, Bacon’s Rebellion helped set the stage for the racialized system of chattel slavery that became the foundation of the American economy.

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👉 In short: Bacon’s Rebellion was sparked by class tensions, but its suppression led directly to the institutionalization of racism as a tool to uphold class hierarchy.

Would you like me to show you the specific laws passed in Virginia after the rebellion that codified this racial division?