Just ASK Bacon: Bacon’s rebellion?

Well I asked for for more questions from you last week, and I got them! The first interesting one came from Josh Sauve of Casper, Wyoming, and he says:

Hey Bacon! I love what you do and I love the happiness you bring to my world. But I saw your post last week about your “world-renowned” history. When I clicked the link I saw a sign for “Bacon’s rebellion”. What rebellion did you have?

Well Josh, I only had a very small part of Bacon’s rebellion, a rebellion led by Virginia colonist Nathaniel Bacon in 1676. The short version the story is about 70 years after Virginia was colonized, an elite group of farmers known as the “Tidewater gentry” owned the best farmland an ran the political scene. This made the poor farmers on lower quality land, or the majority of Virginia residents, very unhappy. And you know what happens when you have an elite few controlling everything… corruption!

The colonial governor of Virginia, Sir William Berkeley, levied taxes on tobacco farmers (the poor guys) to help fund the construction of forts to supposedly protect the Virginianers from frontier Indians. This was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, and Bacon led a revolution against Berkeley and the government which led to the siege of the Tidewater estates in Jamestown. The “Baconites” plundered the estates, and destroyed any sign of the aristocracy. Even though Bacon died of dysentery in October of 1676, the battle by the farmers continued until the British calmed the storm in the summer of 1677.

The Bacon rebellion was the first rebellion in the new colonies, a place where the ultimate rebellion 100 years later would create the United States of America. The rebellion also convinced the founding fathers to support the right to bear arms (basically the 2nd amendment to the U.S. Constitution) so ordinary citizens could protect themselves from invaders or corrupt government.

So where do I fit in to this? Well, where did the rebellion start? On farms… and where do I come from? Pigs! And where do pigs live? On farms! And what is more American than gun-toting rebels who like bacon? I can’t think of anything else that is (okay, maybe mom and apple pie).

Got a question for Bacon? E-mail him at bacon@justaddbacon.com.

I’m Back! And I’m BIGGER Than Ever!!!

Man I tell you what, I am a friggin’ ROCK STAR!

It’s your old pal Bacon, and I last wrote to you in June all heart-broken because some chick was all upset about the alleged unhealthiness of bacon. “BAH!”, I said, as I declared a nationwide endeavor to prove that bacon and bacon alone is not bad for you. Well while I was away an amazing thing happened… people lined up for me!

Wendy’s and Burger King featured special bacon sandwiches, and people ate them up! Kids home from school on summer vacation willingly ate me with their eggs and pancakes! People put me on their cheeseburgers without a second thought as they grilled outdoors! My ego-taste-ical attitude went through the roof because so many people love me! Sadly I have to say a few people won’t return my phone calls because they think I’ve gotten too big for my bacon britches. But I digress…

The point is the world still loves me, and I love hearing from you. While I was away, the cleaning lady in my office accidentally threw out the handful of letters I was going to respond to in my weekly “Just ASK Bacon” column. So I ask you, to ask me something. ANYTHING! Just look below to see what others have written about, asking about my curious relationship to the actor Kevin Bacon, or my illustrious world-renowned history.

Just don’t ask me about my health status… I don’t want to wait on airport tarmacs forever as airlines keep bumping me from one plane or another. That really fries me.

Got a question for Bacon? E-mail him at bacon@justaddbacon.com! Make sure you include your first and last name, and the city you’re writing from.

Wendy’s Baconator

Sometimes we here at Just Add Bacon are impressed when other love Bacon as much as we do. Some time ago, Wendy’s announced their new Baconator sandwich — with double the bacon.

Oh yeah!