Edonis Shehu
History1301
12/7/12
Professor Troy
Shays Rebellion

January 25, 1787 was a day that played a huge factor in making the young nation, America, think very carefully about its form of government. Snow was falling eminently that day as the group of farmers and ex-revolutionary soldiers marched through it. All the ammunition and gunpowder the rebels needed to go to Boston and over throw the government was inside that federal arsenal. They had just one thing standing in there way, nine hundred militia troops. In this essay, we’re going to take a look at all the factors that led to Shays Rebellion, go in deep depth of how it all went down and show why this incident is one of the most important events of the United States. America after the Revolutionary War was in shambles. Americans had paid a very heavy toll for this independence. Thousands of men had died, homes and farms had been destroyed, and the nation was governed by a Congress which was governed by the Articles of Confederation; which was a really weak system of central government. Daniel Shays was born into poverty in Western Massachusetts and worked as a farm laborer most of his life. Shays goes into the Revolutionary War as a Private, spends five years fighting and leaves the war as a Captain. Marquis de Lafayette honored him with a sword because he thought Shays did a superior job under him. Soldiers were paid for the war they entered, but were paid in currency that depreciated very quickly, which was British Pounds. When they returned that the currency was worth only about ten percent of what it was originally. Despite his financial situation, Shays quickly emerged as a leader in his town. He is actually chosen by the town he settled in to be on the committee of safety. Shays was ready to leave the days of battle behind and have a nice quiet life in the Massachusetts country side. But little did he know, he was going to have exactly opposite of that. When the Revolution started, there was a sudden increase in demand for food products. So most of these farmers borrowed money, so they could plant more products and began to produce for the demanding market. Then after the war was over, the demand for the farming produce restored to normal. Then these farmers were in trouble and left with debt they had to pay, and no way to pay it. To give you an idea of how many people had debt, “At our inferior court last week There were Two Hundred and twenty one actions entered, and almost the whole of them were personal actions for the recovery of debts” (Shays Rebellion,777) There were a few ways it could go afterwards. They could have their property sold at auction. If that happened, then they would have know way to support their families. Secondly someone could come and seize their house, cattle, or anything they could use. The last option was they could end up in debtors prison, if the creditor wanted to put them in prison, they had that right. “ By 1786, debtors made up 80% of occupants in prisons” (10 days that unexpectedly changed America,12:15). A lot of people felt that this was proof that the form of government was not working. A solution had to be found. In the spring of 1786, Daniel Shays was addressing a small group of sympathizers in a small tavern in Pelham, Massachusetts. Shays told them that the courts were working together with the eastern creditors. In anger all of these rebels came up with the idea to close down the courts.“ The seeds of rebellion had been planted”(10 days that unexpectedly changed america, 14:07). Now all around, poor farmers were being sent to prison, and families left without providers and had no way of getting that income. Shays had been taken to court for debts twice by different creditors and he was very afraid that he was going to end up in prison,lose his land, and not be able to support his family. Shays began to meet frequently with his supporters. With all sorts of talk like self government and rebellion. He had convinced all of his fellow followers that something had to change. The eastern establishment of Massachusetts definitely knew about all the angered rebels in the west. But the east just simply ignored them and that nothing of it. They went ahead with their program of heavy taxation to pay all of the debt and make the necessary contributions to national government. While ignoring this rising rebellion coming up in the west. Throughout time, citizens began to organize all sorts of meetings and protests. Daniel shays and his group had tried the ways of petitions, conventions, and letters to their elected leaders. But as they tried to find justice legally like this, they had been ignored and failed. They decided it was time to take action. On September 29th, 1786 as a court was a court in Springfield prepared to convene, one thousand men came out of the woods on top of a hill near by the court. As they go close to the courthouse, Shays ordered his men to load their muskets. As soon as the men were ready, they charged the courthouse with a mission to shut down the courts by any means necessary. At the point, the judge adjourned the court without doing any business. This meant as long as the courthouse was shut down, none of the western farmers could be sent to jail for their debts. They considered this the first major victory for Shays and his men. Over the next few months, this rebellion led attacks all across Massachusetts. This attracted nearly nine thousand rebels across New England. With all of these uprisings and rebels coming up, several new measure came out. One of them was the Militia Act in 1786, which basically said if you were in a militia and you rebelled against the government or stopped one of these courts, you could be put to death. The second thing they did was suspend the Writ of Habeas Corpus, so they could take anybody and imprison that person at will. The third act they passed was the Riot Act of 1786 which said that if more than twelve people got together for any purpose, the government could do anything from jailing them, taking away their properties, and could be tried for treason. This pushed the farmers to the final stage of the Rebellion. So Daniel Shay and his group of twenty two hundred rebellions decided to march to Springfield and seize the weapons that were stored in the federal arsenal. There were about seven thousand muskets and thirteen hundred pounds of gunpowder, and this would be extremely helpful to the rebels. As they were heading through the treacherous snow, nine hundred militia stood protecting the Springfield arsenal. Daniel Shays intentions were to retrieve all of the weapons and ammunition at springfield and march to Boston to burn it down completely. If the rebels would have got all of these supplies, they would have been better armed than the state. Most of these men were even more experienced, having served anywhere from four to eight years in the Revolutionary War. The plan was to have an attack coming from three different directions at the same time. But as the three groups of rebellions were trying to communicate with each other, the message was intercepted by General Shepard, who was leading the group of nine hundred militia. So General Shepard knew when and where Shays was going to attack and because he intercepted the message, one third of the rebels didn’t receive it so they didn’t have those men anymore. Shays gives the command and the rebels march. But the militia has cannons and they shoot once over their heads. The rebels just keep on marching and get to about a hundred yards from the arsenal and the militias cannon is lowered and shot right at the rebels. “Here on, January 25, 1787, the most critical confrontation of the uprising occurred, with four Shaysites killed and one government soldier seriously wounded”(Brown, 600) Four rebels lay dead and thirty more wounded, then the rebels flee in all directions. General Shepard says if it wasn’t for that intercepted message, Shays Rebellion would most likely have taken that arsenal. Three days later, Shays has regrouped his men. He sends a messenger with a call for help, but his plea for help was never answered. After traveling through a terrible blizzard, the militia men surprised Shays men and captured one hundred and fifty of them. Shays managed to escape to Vermont. This meant that the rebellion was over. Over the next few months, one hundred and fifty men were sentenced to hang, many of them appealed for leniency. One hundred and thirty eight men were pardoned, the remaining twelve were had their necks in a noose but a last minute pardon spared their lives. From all this that had happened the United States now knew that something about the government had to be done. The movement to hold a Constitutional Convention gained ground. After months of arguing, a compromise was made and on September 17th, 1787 the Constitution was signed into law. Section four of Article four guarantees the states federal protection from internal rebellion. All of these facts from Shays Rebellion proves that one of the biggest reasons that the United States came up with a new Constitution was because of seeing by example what happened in Massachusetts with Shays Rebellion. They saw that the form of government was not working. Shays Rebellion is a major event that has changed the United States to become what it is now.

10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America. Prod. Greg Schultz and Sidney Beamont. The History Channel, 2006. DVD.

Richards, Leonard L. Shays's Rebellion: The American Revolution's Final Battle. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2002. Print.

"Shays Rebellion." The American Historical Review 36.4 (2006): 776-78. Jstor.org. Oxford University Press. Web. 6 Dec. 2012.

Brown, Richard D. "Shays's Rebellion and Its Aftermath: A View from Springfield, Massachusetts, 1787." The William and Mary Quarterly 3rd ser. 40.4 (2012): 598-615. Jstor.org. Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. Web. 11 Dec. 2012.