How did the Bacon Rebellion affect social order in Virginia?

The English Elitists in Virginia had created a hierarchical of race and class structure which served the English well and furthered their economic goals. The Bacon Rebellion had the essential elements of a rebellion; a large and angry lower class who were well armed, a sense of unity amongst people from varied backgrounds and color, a common enemy and an inspired leader.

The rebels, fueled by anger and desperation, burned Jamestown to the ground and forced Governor William Berkeley to flee by ship. As a result, wealthy landowners saw that the social order would never serve them as they intended if there where white laborers intermingled amongst the blacks. After the Bacon Rebellion the planters along with the English decided to use Africans exclusively for their slave labor and denied the Africans to bear arms or the right to assemble in order to prevent subsequent insurrections.

Ultimately, The Bacon Rebellion created deeper more defined tiers in the social order in Virginia and throughout the colonies adopting a labor force based on caste.

Why did the Puritans of the 1600s view the Native Americans as “Devils”?

The root of the Puritan viewpoint was the fact that the Puritans came to America to practice their faith system and believed that their voyage and subsequent colonization was God’s will. It was this philosophy that led the Puritan to believe that if the Puritans are with God and His plan, anything and anyone that stood in their way must be in league with the Devil and his demonic ways. When they arrived in Massachusetts, their so called Promised Land, the Native Americans were already showing signs of loss in their population die to unseen pathogens and their lack of immunity against English disease. The Puritans erroneously viewed this as a sign from God, leaving science in the wind of ignorance. Since the ways of the Native American were different from the Puritan they were viewed as barbaric and demonic, subsequently the Native American himself became the manifestation of the Devil. The fact of the matter was that the Native American had been living in peace and prosperity for many moons. They, unlike the Puritan, believed in a synergistic view of the land, where equality between man and his environment were essential to survival and growth.