Nathaniel Bacon: Hero Or Traitor?

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Nathaniel Bacon – Hero or Traitor? It is understandable why Nathaniel Bacon is argued to be both hero and traitor. What he did was right but also wrong in many ways. I think that his mindset was that of a hero but his actions were that of a traitor. Bacon stood up to the government that did not adequately protect people on the frontier by terrorizing innocent and not innocent Native Americans. Bacon was part of the council of Virginia and he had a rather important seat on it. Even though Bacon acted and talked like he was on the council, he attended only a small amount of the meetings that were held. Apparently he did not try reforming the government from the inside. This shows that his actions were not well thought out and irresponsible.…show more content…
His actions discouraged loyalty to the colonial government and England. Pretty soon, Bacon’s Rebellion group convinced him to lead them in fighting against the Indian tribes. He and his men attacked Indians that were causing trouble as well as innocent Indian tribes that only wanted peace. Even though he was denied commission to attack the hostile Native Americans, he did it anyway along with attacking friendly Natives, too. This was, in my opinion, the event that officially qualifies him as a traitor; the fact that he disobeyed the government whenever he pleased. In conclusion, Nathaniel Bacon was a traitor. He purposely disobeyed the laws, did what ever he pleased because he knew there would be no repercussions, and he rallied up his own mini rebel army. He had good reasoning for things that he did but he did not think things though very well and he was very physical about problems. This is historically significant because he may have been the only one who would have fought against the government so diligently. Also, he made a difference in the relationship between the Natives and the
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