for self-government was disappointed by the
usurpation of Oliver Cromwell. But the commons of Virginia reaped the
reward which was denied their brothers of the old country. For a period
of eight years all power resided in the House of Burgesses. This body,
so truly representative of the small planter class, elected the Governor
and specified his duties. If his administration proved unsatisfactory
they could remove him from office. The Burgesses also chose the members
of the Council. Even the appointing of officials was largely theirs,
although this function they usually felt it wise to delegate to the
Governor.[6-45] In fact, Virginia was governed during this period, the
happiest and most prosperous of its early history, by the small
proprietor class which constituted the bulk of the population.

Nor is it true that the people voluntarily surrendered this power by
acknowledging the authority of Charles II before the actual restoration
in England. After the death of Cromwell, when the affairs of the mother
country were in chaos and no man knew which faction would secure
possession of the government, the Virginia Assembly asked Sir William
Berkeley to act again as their chief executive. But it was specifically
stipulated that he was to hold his authority, not from Charles, but from
themselves alone.[6-46] In this step the people were doubtless actuated
by an apprehension that the monarchy might be restored, in which case it
would be much to their advantage to have as the chief executive of the
colony the former royal Governor; but they expressly stated that they
held themselves in readiness to acknowledge the authority of any
Government, whatever it might be, which succeeded in establishing itself
in England. So far was Sir William from considering himself a royal
Governor, that when the King actually regained his throne, he wrote with
no little apprehension, begging forgiveness for having accepted a
commission from any other source than himself.[6-47]

It was the small farmer class which suffered most from the despotic
methods of Berkeley during the Restoration period--the corrupting of the
House of Burgesses, the heavy taxes, the usurpation of power in local
government, the distribution of lucrative offices--and it was this class
which rose in insurrection in 1676. It is notable that in the course of
Bacon's Rebellion the great mass of the people turned against the
Governor, either approving passively of his expulsion,