In this same year, a unique attitude concerning public education was expressed by royal Governor Berkeley when he stated: "I thank God, there are no free schools or printing presses and I hope we shall not have them these hundred years: for learning has brought disobedience and heresy, and sects into the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels against the best government. God keep us from both."
In 1672, Parliament passed an act compelling each ship which left the colonies for Europe to post bond that it would deliver its cargo in England or otherwise pay the required duty. Colonial customs collectors were to be appointed whose chief duty was to supervise this trade. An export duty was to be paid on certain "enumerated" articles—tobacco, indigo, sugar, apples, dyewood and later, naval stores, molasses, lumber and hides—if such articles were sent from one colony to another. Strict enforcement of this act would have dire results on the Virginia colonists because their ships had been carrying products from the West Indies and from Virginia to northern ports and then to Europe. The colonists began to be extremely dissatisfied with the mother country.
Governor Berkeley at this time was aggravating the home situation of the Virginia colonists. He had limited suffrage to freeholders and householders only, had strongly influenced the election of Assembly members to individuals who were personal friends and who favored the King's policies and had been keeping the Assembly technically in session for fourteen years without any elections taking place. The grievance about which the colonists felt the most bitter, however, was the inadequate protection of the frontier from the Susquehannock Indian attacks. After these Indians had attacked a plantation owned by Nathaniel Bacon and had killed his overseer and one of his servants, Bacon decided that the colonists themselves should take organized action against the Indians since the Governor had practically ignored the attacks. One possible reason for the Governor's hesitancy in interfering in these Indian affairs was the high profit which he was receiving from the Indian fur trading. Many of Bacon's neighbors agreed with him, and they prepared to be the aggressors against the Indians. Bacon asked the Governor for permission to do so and for a military commission for himself as the leader. Both requests were refused, and Bacon and his friends were declared rebels by the Governor. Consequently, Bacon and his followers decided to take matters into their own hands without the Governor's permission. They proceeded and successfully defeated the Indians. This action aroused Governor Berkeley who immediately considered Bacon a traitor, and a civil war or rebellion resulted.
Bacon, in the meantime, had been elected as a member of the House of Burgesses, and he went to Jamestown to participate in the Assembly. Upon his arrival, he was arrested, brought to the State House and charged with being a rebel. Governor Berkeley and the King's Council discussed Bacon's activities, and Bacon agreed to apologize for his actions if the Governor would grant him his commission. The Governor agreed, but Bacon felt that the Governor had no intention of carrying out his promise for a commission. Bacon discussed this meeting with his neighbor friends who decided to accompany him to Jamestown where he was to receive his commission. Bacon and approximately four hundred planters marched to the State House at Jamestown and demanded his commission. When none was forthcoming, he ordered his men to aim their guns at the windows of the State House where the House of Burgesses sat. At this drastic move, the Burgesses quickly prepared the commission paper and persuaded Governor Berkeley to sign it and then issued it to Bacon. Bacon and his followers then returned home. Governor Berkeley thereupon decided to fight Bacon and his associates. Berkeley then departed from Jamestown and crossed the York River to Gloucester where he called upon his friends to help him. Upon hearing that Bacon was approaching Gloucester, Berkeley fled across the Chesapeake Bay to Accomack. In August 1676, Bacon and his followers signed an agreement whereby they all pledged to fight any and all soldiers that Governor Berkeley might order from England to the colony. After some Indians living near Richmond made new attacks upon the settlers there, Bacon and his friends captured the Indian fort and killed or imprisoned the remaining Indians.
While Bacon was thus engaged, Governor Berkeley with eight hundred soldiers and eighteen ships in the James River had occupied Jamestown. Bacon proceeded next to Jamestown and defeated Governor Berkeley's forces there. Governor Berkeley and many of his soldiers fled to the ships and sailed away. Bacon realized that although he had won on land, he would have no chance of holding out an attack from the ships. Therefore, he and his friends burned the State House and the rest of the capital, Jamestown, to prevent Governor Berkeley from repossessing it. Bacon had become ill with a fever and died shortly afterwards in October at the home of a friend in Gloucester County. Governor Berkeley had twenty-three of Bacon's followers put to death, but the principle for which they fought remained alive: "the people must be heard." Bacon's Rebellion is remembered in history primarily as a revolt of the plain, common man against a privileged few. Governor Berkeley was later recalled to England, and, upon his return, instead of being treated as a hero by the King, he was regarded with contempt.
In 1682, tobacco had been grown so extensively in Virginia that the price of tobacco on the London market had declined rapidly. When the British government refused a request from the Virginia colonists to either restrict tobacco acreage or order a temporary cessation of its growth, tobacco riots occurred in Virginia. During many nights, thousands of young tobacco plants throughout the colony were destroyed. Finally, after the execution of six tobacco plant cutters, the riots ceased. Eventually, the customs duty on tobacco was increased tremendously, and taxes in Virginia were increased at the same time.
In 1682, John Buckner established the first printing press in Virginia at Jamestown. His printer was William Nuthead who published several papers and two sheets of the acts of the Assembly of November 1682, supposedly without a license. The Colonial Council issued an order prohibiting anything from being printed until the King had given his permission as there was strong opposition against "the liberty of a press." Consequently, in December 1683, when King Charles II prohibited all printing in Virginia, William Nuthead moved his printing press to St. Mary's City, Maryland.
From 1691 to 1703, seven additional counties were formed in the Virginia Colony: Norfolk County (created from Lower Norfolk which had become extinct and named for Norfolk County in England which is also located on the water), King and Queen County (created from New Kent County and named for the joint rulers of England: King William III, Prince of Orange, and Queen Mary), Princess Anne County (created also from Lower Norfolk and named for Princess—later Queen—Anne of England), Essex (created from the then extinct Rappahannock County and named either for Essex County, England or the Earl of Essex), Richmond (created also from the then extinct Rappahannock County and either named for territory resemblance to Richmond, Surry County, England or in honor of an English Earl or Duke of Richmond), King William County (created from King and Queen County and named for William of Orange, King of England), and Prince George County (created from one of the original eight shires—Charles City County—and was named for Prince George of Denmark, Queen Anne's husband).
As mentioned previously, education in the Virginia Colony was generally thought of as a family responsibility, not as a community one. Nevertheless, by 1690, some families decided that there should be an educational institution for higher learning in Virginia in order that their sons would not have to travel abroad to obtain such an education. A conference was held in Jamestown to consider the founding of a college in the Virginia Colony. Those present led by Colonel John Page drew up plans for such an institution and asked the Governor and the King's Council to explain to the rulers of England and to Parliament the purpose and the need of a college in Virginia and to make a request for financial contributions for such an enterprise. Reverend James Blair, a Scotch minister in Virginia, went to England to ask King William III and Queen Mary for their consent. He stayed in England for two years and, upon his return, had a royal charter and numerous contributions consisting of land, special tax funds and personal finances which had been encouraged and strongly supported by King William and Queen Mary. Donations from interested colonists themselves increased the building fund considerably. On February 8, 1693, the official charter for the college was granted. The college was named William and Mary College in honor of the King and Queen who had granted its charter. Out of respect for King William who belonged to the House of Orange, the official college colors were designated as orange and white. The General Assembly selected Middle Plantation as the most suitable location for the college and the plans for the original building were drawn up by the now-famous architect, Sir Christopher Wren. The Wren Building, named in his honor, was constructed by 1698 and it is the oldest academic structure still in existence. William and Mary College was the second oldest college established in America: Harvard College, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, having been established in 1636. The first regular faculty consisted of six professors and Reverend Blair, who had personally raised much of the fund for the college, became its first president.
After the burning of Jamestown during Bacon's Rebellion, the State House was rebuilt, but it burned again in October 1698. Since the Assembly then had no meeting place, it met in 1699 at the private residence of Mrs. Sarah Lee and in a building of William and Mary College. At one meeting, Governor Granci Nicholson suggested that the capital be moved to Middle Plantation. After a successful vote, the seat of the Virginia Colony government was officially moved from Jamestown, the first capital, to Middle Plantation, the name of which was changed to Williamsburg in honor of King William III. Plans for the State House were immediately made and the main street was named Duke of Gloucester Street, in honor of the Duke of Gloucester who was Queen Anne's oldest son. The first official Capitol building was constructed at one end of the main street and the College of William and Mary had been constructed at the other end.