Colonial Control
This policy aimed to create tension between black slaves and Native Americans to prevent them from forming alliances.
What is a divide and conquer strategy?
This rebellion saw both white servants and black slaves unite in protest against Virginia’s elite in 1676.
What is Bacon’s Rebellion?
Why the colonial elite used racial contempt as a tool to manage this common fear in the colonies.
What is the fear of combined revolts between poor whites and black slaves?
In colonial cities, which group controlled most of the wealth and resources?
The wealthy elite or colonial aristocracy.
What was the primary tool used by colonial elites to prevent alliances between black slaves and poor whites?
Answer: Racism and the implementation of racial laws.
Colonial leaders used this type of legal structure to control interactions between different racial and social groups.
What are racial and social laws?
The rebellion was primarily fueled by tensions over this economic resource, leading settlers to demand protection from Native American attacks.
What is land?
Colonial laws discouraged relations between these two groups, as their union was seen as a threat to elite control.
What are black slaves and Native Americans?
What economic system was colonial society based on that deepened wealth inequalities?
Mercantilism, which funneled wealth to the mother country and the colonial elite.
How did colonial elites manipulate the concept of race to maintain their control?
By creating a racial hierarchy that elevated poor whites above black slaves, granting them minor privileges to divide them.
This class of society was used as a buffer to manage class anger and prevent revolts, incentivized by small privileges.
What is the white middle class?
One significant consequence of Bacon’s Rebellion was the development of these laws that heightened racial divisions.
What are racial distinctions in legal status?
What role did Native American policies play in sparking Bacon's Rebellion?
The colonial government’s failure to protect settlers from Native American raids led to frustration among poor farmers.
How did urban poorhouses reflect the economic disparities in colonial America?
They housed the growing number of impoverished settlers who were unable to sustain themselves due to unequal distribution of resources.
What was the significance of the term “white privilege” in colonial America?
It referred to the small advantages given to poor whites to create divisions between them and black slaves.
After Bacon’s Rebellion, this significant legal change was implemented to prevent future coalitions between black slaves and white servants.
What is the creation of legal distinctions between black slaves and white servants?
Bacon’s Rebellion was a turning point that led to a shift in Virginia’s labor force away from indentured servants toward this labor system.
What is slavery?
This kind of racial policy was used to discourage travel and cooperation between black slaves and Native American groups.
What are prohibitions on blacks traveling in Indian territories?
Why did colonial elites fear widespread poverty among the lower classes?
They feared that growing economic inequality could lead to revolts and threaten their control.
How did the creation of racial categories serve as a social control mechanism?
It institutionalized a system that kept black slaves at the bottom of society and discouraged unity between racial groups.
This control mechanism used by elites involved the manipulation of laws and social structures to manage runaway servants and slaves.
What are legal measures against fugitive servants and slaves?
Following the rebellion, Virginia elites used this long-term strategy to prevent future uprisings by dividing poor whites and black slaves.
What is fostering racial animosity through legal and social distinctions?
The colonial elite were concerned about this specific type of rebellion, fearing the combined efforts of black slaves and Native Americans.
What is an interracial uprising?
How did trade restrictions imposed by Britain affect the economic well-being of poor colonists?
Trade restrictions made it harder for colonists to profit from their goods, increasing the wealth gap between the elite and the poor.
What lasting impact did the system of racial control in colonial America have on future American society?
It laid the foundation for systemic racism that persisted through slavery, segregation, and beyond.