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 that the elite's indentured servants were armed. Each white colonist was required to carry a gun in order to defend the colony against any threats that materialized. The second reason is that this lower class was very discontent with their place in society. Most people in the Giddy Multitude had no land, no money, and had to deal with years of serving their masters without benefit. The final reason is that the Giddy Multitude greatly outnumbered the population of elites in the colony. 70% of the population in the Virginia colony consisted of indentured servants. The overpopulation of indentured servants occurred primarily because of race and religion. The colonists did not want to live around Africans, a race of people they consider to be dirty heathens, so labor was primarily made up of indentured servants.
             The colony changed forever when a Virginia council member named Nathaniel Bacon raised a militia and led the largest colonial rebellion prior to the American Revolution. This was known as Bacon's Rebellion. Bacon originally formed a militia to defend the colony against Indian agression. The militia was made up of a combination of landless, indentured servants as well as free men. Bacon used his militia to brutally slaughter the nearby Indian tribes of the Susquehanna and the friendly Occaneechees. These savage actions led Bacon to be labeled a traitor. Bacon retaliated to these accusations by marching 500 men into Jamestown and burning it to the ground. Sl...