Subunit 1.4: Colonial Convulsions and Rebellions

Unit One: American Origins

Key points

The chapter's argument is that four very different upheavals — King Philip's War, Bacon's Rebellion, the Pueblo Revolt and Salem — belonged to one wider seventeenth-century pattern, not four unrelated local events.
Violence was normal. By one estimate there were only three years between 1600 and 1700 when peace prevailed, with civil wars from Russia and France to Ireland, Catalonia and the Ottoman Empire.
Two structural pressures drove it: new imperial rivals (England, France, then the Dutch challenging Spain and Portugal), and absolute monarchs colliding with regional nobles who would not surrender their power.
Environment mattered too. The Little Ice Age brought droughts, floods and cooling that wrecked harvests, squeezing governments, landed elites and peasants at once.
Charles I treated Parliament as merely advisory and refused to call it through the 1630s. A Scottish rebellion left him short of cash and forced his hand in November 1640 — the Long Parliament, which then sat two decades.
The English Civil War (1642–1651) devastated over 200 towns and villages and killed roughly 7% of the population, about 250,000 people — more than triple the proportion of Britons who died in World War I.
Challenging the king opened up who else should rule. The parliamentary side split: Independents wanted Parliament supreme, Levellers wanted the monarchy and House of Lords gone, and Diggers questioned private property itself.
Charles I was beheaded in 1649. Cromwell's Protectorate became military dictatorship; the monarchy was restored in 1660, and the Glorious Revolution of 1688 deposed James II under a Declaration of Rights.
The Navigation Acts of 1650, 1651 and 1660 required colonial goods to travel in English ships to English ports — the clearest direct effect of England's upheaval on the colonies.
In New England, settlers passed 50,000 by 1670 while the Native population of the east fell below 20,000, mostly from disease. Settlers had little regard for Indigenous land claims or sovereignty.
King Philip's War began in June 1675 after John Sassamon was found dead and three Wampanoag advisers were executed for it. Metacom and the Wampanoag attacked, and most other Algonquian-speaking peoples joined.
It was catastrophic for Native New England: about 2,000 killed or executed, 3,000 more dead of hunger and disease, 1,000 enslaved and shipped to the West Indies, some 2,000 made refugees — roughly half the population.
The colonists "won" at immense cost: about 1,000 dead (near 2% of them), a large war debt, a devastated frontier and an enduring hatred of Indigenous people.
Bacon's Rebellion (1676) came out of Virginia's land and labour squeeze. Berkeley gave land and office to wealthy allies, suspended elections and taxed smallholders. He knew the risk: six of seven Virginians were "Poore, Endebted, Discontented, and Armed."
Nathaniel Bacon — a gentleman and nephew of Berkeley's wife — attacked Indigenous people against orders, was named a traitor, then burned Jamestown. He died of disease, the revolt collapsed, and Berkeley hanged twenty-three rebels.
The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 was the largest and most successful Native rebellion of the century. Drought, raiding and Treviño's 1675 crackdown on Pueblo holy men set it off; Po'pay organised across languages and distance using Native runners.
About 400 Spanish were killed and survivors fled 300 miles to El Paso for over a decade. When Spain retook Santa Fe in 1692, the new regime was lighter on Native labour and far less hostile to Pueblo religion.
The chapter's own theory of rebellion (opening 4.5): grievances help unite people, but grievances alone are not enough. Rebels also need to sense the powerful are divided among themselves, plus a triggering event — a drought, a violated norm, or an injustice to a popular leader.
Salem shows a convulsion need not be political. The same stresses — lost land, weakening authority, generational resentment, wartime strain — could turn "in more supernatural directions" in a still-premodern culture.

Timeline

1618–1648Thirty Years' War spreads from Germany across Europe; as many as eight million casualties, and at least a third of Germany's population dies.
1619The first enslaved Africans arrive in Virginia, working alongside a mainly white indentured workforce.
1625–1649Reign of Charles I, who claims rule by divine right and treats Parliament as an advisory body.
1637–1651Scottish Revolution — one of several European conflicts between monarchs and regional nobilities.
1640Parliament arrests Archbishop William Laud and charges him with treason; he is executed.
November 1640Short of money after a Scottish rebellion, Charles I calls Parliament. It sits for two decades as the Long Parliament.
1641William Berkeley is installed as governor of Virginia by Charles I.
1642–1651English Civil War. Over 200 towns and villages devastated; about 7% of the population killed.
1648–1653The Fronde in France, another revolt of nobles against a centralising crown.
1649Charles I is beheaded for high crimes and treason. The civil war begins to look like a revolution.
1650, 1651, 1660Navigation Acts require colonial goods to be carried in English ships to English ports.
1658Oliver Cromwell dies. Few English subjects mourn the Lord Protector.
1660The monarchy is restored under Charles II. Berkeley is returned to the Virginia governorship.
1660Metacom and his brother Wamsutta ask Plymouth's leaders for English names and receive "Philip" and "Alexander."
1670New England settlers number more than 50,000; the Native population of eastern New England has fallen below 20,000.
1674Nathaniel Bacon arrives in Virginia and is given a seat on the governor's council.
1675Governor Juan Francisco Treviño jails more than forty Pueblo holy men; three are executed and a fourth takes his own life.
June 1675John Sassamon is found dead. Three Wampanoag advisers are tried and executed, and King Philip's War begins.
1675After a settler militia murders five Susquehannock chiefs, the Susquehannocks go to war against Virginia's settlers.
1676Bacon is declared a traitor, marches on Jamestown and burns it. Berkeley's government flees across the Chesapeake.
Spring 1676Metacom's allies run short of food, ammunition and territory.
Late summer 1676Metacom is shot, mutilated and beheaded; his skull is set atop a Plymouth tower.
1676Bacon dies suddenly of disease. The rebellion collapses and Berkeley hangs twenty-three rebels.
August 1680The Pueblo Revolt. Roughly 17,000 Pueblos rise, killing about 400 Spanish and driving survivors 300 miles to El Paso.
1685James II takes the throne and alarms Parliament with absolutist and pro-Catholic leanings.
1688The Glorious Revolution. Parliament deposes James II and invites William and Mary, who accept a Declaration of Rights.
1689Samuel Parris arrives as minister in Salem Village and provokes contention while preaching constantly about the devil.
1692Spain retakes Santa Fe after more than a decade, installing a regime lighter on Native labour and religion.
February 1692Salem Village girls begin behaving strangely; a physician suspects an "evil hand." Accusations eventually reach over 300 people.
1692–1693Twenty accused witches, including one man, are put to death before authorities halt the trials.