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After Shays Rebellion Shays Rebellion After the American Revolution unsettled economic conditions and a severe depression tore the young nation. Paper money was in circulation, but little of it was honored at face value. Merchants and other sound money men wanted currencies with gold backing. In Massachusetts the sound money men were property owners and controlled the government. Most of those who were harmed by the depression were without property and thus unable to vote.
Conflict between these two groups grew until thousands of men in the western counties rose in armed revolt. They were led by Daniel Shays (1747 - 1825), a captain during the American Revolution. Shays Rebellion lasted from August 1786 to February 1787. The agitators objected to heavy land and poll taxes, the high cost of lawsuits, high salaries of state officials, oppressive court decisions, and dictatorial rulings of the state senate.
In Northampton, Worcester, Great Barrington, and Concord on August 29 the mob succeeded in keeping the courts closed so debtors could not be tried and put into prison. Fearful of being tried for treason for this action, Shays and his men broke up the state Supreme Court session at Springfield the following month. The revolt took a more serious turn when Shays and a force of 1, 200 men returned to Springfield in January to capture the arsenal. Action by American general William Shepard of the national government prevented the attack on January 25. The rebels fled toward Petersham, where they were finally defeated. Most of the insurgents were captured in early February, ending the rebellion.
The leaders were condemned to death for treason but were later pardoned. Shays himself later received a war pension for his service in the American Revolution. Although they were defeated, their act of defiance worried many property owners who became afraid that similar rebellions might arise. The fears raised by Shays Rebellion woke a number of people up to the need of a strong, central government. George Washington wrote to James Madison: We are either a united people or we are not. If the former, let us act as a nation.
If we are not, let us no longer act a farce by pretending to it. Many consider this rebellion to be a major factor in the calling of the Constitutional Convention. Shays Rebellion was one of several disturbances in different states. It hastened the movement for a federal government strong enough to ensure domestic tranquility, as stated in the preamble to the Constitution, which established the United States. That is the Shays Rebellion in brief. The sentiments behind these actions, of roughly 200 years ago, seem very much alive today.
Clearly the Nation is grappling with many of Daniels issues once again. Daniel Shays is a local hero in Western Massachusetts A substantial number of streets and highways bear his name. I hold it that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical... It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two?
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure. Thomas Jefferson (1743 1826), U. S. president. Letter, 13 Nov. 1787, referring to Daniel Shays s rebellion of poor farmers in Massachusetts.
Jefferson, writing from Paris, was the only one of the American leaders not alarmed by news of the revolt. Bibliography: Feel, F. , and May, E. , eds. , Shays Rebellion (1989); Kaufman, M. , ed. ,
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Research essay sample on Shays Rebellion American Revolution
