“For there is no respect of persons with God.” Romans 2:11
Sadly, throughout human history, mankind has exhibited a free will to rebel when something isn’t going their way. In 1676, as our nation was just beginning to form, place down roots and prosper, one such rebellion occurred.
Nathaniel Bacon was an English merchant who immigrated into the Virginia Colonies in the late 1600’s. Here he prospered as a young man and sat on the Governor’s Counsel. He was a brash young man who thought that the North American Indians should be controlled and dictated too. The Colonel Governor William Berkeley disagreed with Bacon.
So, in 1676, Bacon and some other colonists rose up against Berkeley in rebellion. They chased him out of Jamestown and torched the settlement. This led to the Colonial Governor being recalled to England and government forces being brought in to squelch the rebellion.
Bacon’s rebellion became known as the first rebellion in which frontiersmen were involved.
The heart of man is deceitful and wicked as we learn in Jeremiah. It will lead us to do things we may not be expecting. This isn’t the most pleasant time in the history of our nation but one we can learn from.
Our Declaration of Independence states that all men are created equal. It is very important for our children to know the history of our country. However, this should lead to a broader discussion on how God created all men. He loves all of us no matter our race, color of skin or where we live. As our new nation moved forward to continue forging a path to being united, they had moments in time where they forgot these truths.
We can learn from these moments in history to not only teach our children about God’s beautiful creation of all people but to also remind them to ever learn from their past.