Daniel Shaye's Rebellion Research Paper

Daniel Shaye was a poor farmhand from Massachusetts when the Revolution broke out. He joined the Continental Army where he fought at Lexington, Bunker Hill, and Saratoga, and was eventually wounded in action. In 1780, he resigned from the army unpaid and went home to find himself in court for the nonpayment of debts. He soon found that he was not alone in being unable to pay his debts, and once even saw a sick woman who had her bed taken out from under her because she was also unable to pay. He started to get very angry about the country's actions. The rebellion started on August 29, 1786, and by January 1787, over one thousand Shaysites had been arrested. A militia that had been raised as a private army defeated an attack on the federal Springfield
Armory by the main Shaysite force on February 3, 1787, and four rebels were killed in the action. With the rebellion ended, many of the rebels were fined. There was a lack of an institutional response to the uprising, which energized calls to reevaluate the Articles of Confederation and gave strong impetus to the Philadelphia Convention which began in May 17, 1787. Shays' Rebellion produced fears that the Revolution's democratic impulse had gotten out of hand.Shays's Rebellion caused George Washington to emerge from retirement to advocate a stronger national government. This led to a future in politics he did not want. He was elected as president and head chair of the Constitutional Convention and eventually elected unanimously as President of the United States of America