GENESIS OF AGRARIANISM IN THE U. S. 103 



be produced for the purpose of determining the 

 rights of freemen. When the Court met on May 14 

 "three deputies appeared from each of the eight 

 towns. This was revolutionary. The twenty-four 

 deputies outnumbered the Assistants and made the 

 Court really a representative body. Other freemen 

 were present also to vote, but not to discuss. 

 Neither charter nor laws knew anything of repre- 

 sentatives. But the freemen saw very properly that 

 the whole body could not engage in lawmaking on 

 equal terms with the trained and compact body of 

 Assistants, and so they fell back upon the English 

 device of representation." 5 The freemen gained 

 important economic and political concessions as a 

 result of these protests. 



Bacon's Rebellion, which occurred during the 

 summer and early autumn of 1676, had its origin in 

 agrarian discontent. The forty thousand inhabitants 

 of the Virginia colony at this time consisted of some 

 two thousand negro slaves and six thousand inden- 

 tured servants. There were also several thousand 

 landless laborers who remained on the big planta- 

 tions. The remainder of the population consisted 

 of a few hundred large planters and a number of 

 small farmers. The farm population was discon- 

 tented because they were overtaxed and discrimin- 

 ated against in transportation privileges. There 

 was an insufficient number of vessels to transport 

 all of the tobacco crop to England. Preference in 



'Ibid., Chap. II, pp. 82 and 83. 



