The Beginning Progress and Conclusion of Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia

This article, published in the September 1, 1804, edition of the Richmond Enquirer, was the first part of a historical series on Bacon’s Rebellion, entitled “The Beginning Progress and Conclusion of Bacons Rebellion in Virginia in the Years 1675 & 1676.” In 1803 Rufus King, then minister to Great Britain, purchased a manuscript account of Bacon’s Rebellion from 1705 and sent it to President Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson copied the manuscripts himself and shared them with the public. The Enquirer published the articles as evidence that Nathaniel Bacon could be described as a patriot rather than a rebel. The editor wrote that “one more case will be added to those which prove, that insurrections proceed oftener from the misconduct of those in power, than from the factious and turbulent temper of the people.”