“The Giddy Multitude

The Giddy Multitude was an armed, discontented class of indentured servants, slaves, and landless freemen. In 1673, the landed elite of Virginia feared an uprising of this unstable class. Their fears were personified in the uprising that came to be known as Bacon’s Rebellion. This revolt would become the primary factor that would change the color of slavery. The land owners of the Virginia colony feared the Giddy Multitude for three reasons. The first being …

…slave labor after Bacon’s rebellion. The landed class realized the risk of having an armed servant class, so they began to exploit the African people, who were not legally entitled to carry a weapon. The landed class pushed their influence to the Virginia Legislature, who began passing laws institutionalizing slavery among African. Nathaniel Bacon’s revolt was a major turning point in the slave trade, and ultimately turned slavery into a predominately African class.