Culpepers Rebellion

The rebellion in Albemarle County of North Carolina is named after John Culpeper who lead the rebellion against the colonial government in 1677.The inhabitants were many adventurers, escapees from both the civil war and religious penalties, who were aware if their rights. Efforts were being taken after 1675 by the Lords of trade to convert all the colonies to the royal provinces in order to have a stronger control of the colonies and improve the obedience to English laws. This led to passing of the first Navigation Acts in 1651.This restricted the colonists trade with the Dutch. It also declared null and void all colonial laws contrary to the navigation acts Further the 1673 (Plantation Duty Act of 1673, prohibited the colonies from trading with each other without the payment of duties on certain enumerated products like tobacco. The failure of the British government to understand the Navigation Acts unnecessarily caused a financial burden on the colonists. All these infuriated the colonists and a rebellion became inevitable. Culpeper and his followers rebelled against the unjust Navigation acts passed the British which denied colonists free trading rights with other states other than Britain. The navigation acts imposed heavy taxes on the import and export of commodities that caused the colonists to rebel against the proprietary rule of the British. Thomas Miller the deputy governor and collector of North Carolina was imprisoned and the other legislative officials chose Culpeper as the new Governor of Carolina who efficiently managed the all the powers of the government. The colonists were thus successfully able to stop the navigation Acts passed by the British parliament. This rebellion of 1677 was the beginning of a new trend towards independence movements in America. It also highlighted the underlying flaws in English government which resulted in other revolutions that followed in the seventeenth-century in England as well as in America.