 Tensions and the geographic differences between the working and ruling classes led to Bacon 's Rebellion in 1676 , by which time current and former indentured servants made up as much as 80 % of the population . Rebels , largely from the colony 's frontier , were also opposed to the conciliatory policy towards native tribes , and one result of the rebellion was the signing at Middle Plantation of the Treaty of 1677 , which made the signatory tribes tributary states and was part of a pattern of appropriating tribal land by force and treaty . Middle Plantation saw the founding of The College of William & Mary in 1693 and was renamed Williamsburg as it became the colonial capital in 1699 . In 1747 , a group of Virginian speculators formed the Ohio Company , with the backing of the British crown , to start English settlement and trade in the Ohio Country west of the Appalachian Mountains . France , which claimed this area as part of their colony of New France , viewed this as a threat , and the ensuing French and Indian War became part of the Seven Years ' War ( 1756 – 1763 ) . A militia from several British colonies , called the Virginia Regiment , was led by then @-@ Lieutenant Colonel George Washington . 
