An Overview of Shays' Rebellion

The American Revolution is often seen as the event that solved the then current issues of the United States. Once the British were gone, there were no more significant problems to plague the people who had so recently lived in British colonies. It is presumed that running the country was easy, considering all the work they had put into doing so illegally before and during the American Revolution. This is a misconception. The fledgling nation was in as much danger of collapse in the few years following the American Revolution as it had ever been. Shays' Rebellion was proof of that.

The United States was unbalanced in its infancy. The colonies had earned their freedom, but they had yet to govern themselves with much success. There was little, if anything, which could be rightly called a federal government. In 1786, George Washington himself said, "What a triumph for the advocates of despotism, to find that we are incapable of governing ourselves and that systems founded on the basis of equal liberty are merely ideal and fallacious."

This lack of fair governance led to yet another upstart in the ever-rebellious Massachusetts. It was known as Shays' Rebellion. Many of Massachusetts' leaders of the day feared that these men were going to tear the fabric of the country apart. Leaders in Boston were forced to raise an army of militia against rebelling farmers. However, Thomas Jefferson, possibly rightly, believed rebellion was good. He said, "God forbid that we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion."

Massachusetts in 1786, where Shays' Rebellion originated, was a place where both farmers and merchants were integral parts of the economy and welfare of the state. However, most of the men in control of the state's taxes, courts and government were merchants. They were wont to enforce laws that benefited themselves and gave little thought to the effect it would have on the agricultural community. The economy was in the tank, the farmers were being taxed more than they could pay, they were being further wrung out by debtor's court and the currency was inconsistent. Before Shays' Rebellion, they were peacefully asking for fair taxes and paper currency. During Shays' Rebellion, these farmers (who were, for the most part, veterans of the American Revolution) felt that they were continuing the same fight they had had with the British, but this time, they were having it with the rich merchants and politicians in Boston.

The government in Massachusetts hardly addressed the issue when it was approached. Therefore, in 1786, the farmers rebelled. They called themselves the "Regulators" and made a 39-year-old farmer and veteran named Daniel Shays their leader. Daniel was a hesitant leader, but he had fought bravely at the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Battle of Saratoga, so he knew how to fight for his right to have a say in the governance of his homeland.

Daniel Shays led the rebels in Springfield, Massachusetts. Seeing that the debtors courts were partly the source of their problem, a decision was made to march on the debtors courts. This happened in various places; Daniel led the march in Springfield. Several courts had to be shut down as a result. The government was unable to raise an army to combat the rebels at first, because of a lack of funds. Eventually, in exasperation, Massachusetts Governor James Bowdoin and a group of Massachusetts merchants put up the money to form a militia of 4.400 men in Boston.

On January 25, 1787, Daniel Shays and about 1,500 men marched on the government's arsenal in Springfield, Massachusetts. Twelve hundred government troops, commanded by General William Shepard, defended the Federal Arsenal. When Shays and his men arrived, the militia fired cannons into the crowd, killing four men and wounding about 20. Shocked that their compatriots would fire on them, the men of Shays' Rebellion retreated while shouting "murder."

The rebels resorted to violence as well. A lawyer and his apprentices were kidnapped (in their underwear, it is said). Shays' Rebellion ended before it could get any worse. On February 3, 1787, General Benjamin Lincoln and his men surprised the rebels in the morning hours. The surprise attack ended Shays' Rebellion and sent the rebels on the run. Daniel Shays' fled to Vermont, from whence he could not be extradited. Several men were charged with treason and sentenced to death.

In June of 1787, John Hancock was elected Governor of Massachusetts. His administration was faced with deciding whether the men who had been sentenced to die because of their involvement with Shays' Rebellion should hang or be set free. On June 21, 1787, they were brought to be hanged, but were released at the last moment. It would seem that this spectacle was a contrivance of the government who wanted to appear in control and merciful at the same time.

Daniel Shays' was given a pardon in 1788, but he never came back to live in Massachusetts. He spent the rest of his life in New York. The rebellion that was named for him was a failure, but it proved a point, nonetheless. A government that would focus on the needs of all citizens of the United States needed to be implemented, and it was. The United States Constitution was written and ratified shortly after Shays' Rebellion ended.

Sources

Shays' Rebellion (1786-1787) and the Constitution, retrieved 11/1/10, calliope.org/shays/shays2.html

Shays' Rebellion, retrieved 11/1/10, nps.gov/spar/historyculture/shays-rebellion.htm