Significance of Shay's Rebellion
The Significance of Shays’s Rebellion
Pakanun Ou-Udomying (Ploi)
United States History
Mr. Coulombe
Kent School
December 10, 2012
The outrageous American Revolution War left a lot of scars and bruises that had major affects on the country. On August 29, 1786 in Massachusetts, a rebellion broke out as one of the results that came after the war. This rebellion was led by a veteran from the American Revolutionary War, Daniel Shays, which was why this significant rebellion is called Shays’s Rebellion. The economic crisis that followed the war was a powerful start of Shays’s rebellion. The country itself was in a massive amount of debt and so did the people. Farmers did not have enough money to pay for their taxes, since the states called for heavy taxation so that the country would be out of debt as soon as possible. The consequence of taking away the farmers’ lands if they did not pay tax was applied. Even though the people called for tax reduction, the government turned their backs and refused to do so. The people were extremely enraged and responded by protesting along with shutting down country courts so that the judicial could not call for any more tax collection.
The climax of Shays’s rebellion arose when Shays and his men attacked Springfield, Massachusetts, which was the government’s site for federal arsenal. The mighty state militia fought Shays and his army of farmers back. Daniel Shays decided to escape afterwards, which was how the rebellion finally ended. This chaotic rebellion had a very affective aftermath. Shays’s rebellion’s significance is that it allowed leaders to meet, improved the Articles of Confederation, and paved the path to the successful constitution. In 1786, the first constitutional convention, also known as the Annapolis Convention, was held before Shays’s rebellion to discuss about revising the Articles of Confederation. Political leaders were concerned about the country’s form of government, but there was no
Pakanun Ou-Udomying (Ploi)
United States History
Mr. Coulombe
Kent School
December 10, 2012
The outrageous American Revolution War left a lot of scars and bruises that had major affects on the country. On August 29, 1786 in Massachusetts, a rebellion broke out as one of the results that came after the war. This rebellion was led by a veteran from the American Revolutionary War, Daniel Shays, which was why this significant rebellion is called Shays’s Rebellion. The economic crisis that followed the war was a powerful start of Shays’s rebellion. The country itself was in a massive amount of debt and so did the people. Farmers did not have enough money to pay for their taxes, since the states called for heavy taxation so that the country would be out of debt as soon as possible. The consequence of taking away the farmers’ lands if they did not pay tax was applied. Even though the people called for tax reduction, the government turned their backs and refused to do so. The people were extremely enraged and responded by protesting along with shutting down country courts so that the judicial could not call for any more tax collection.
The climax of Shays’s rebellion arose when Shays and his men attacked Springfield, Massachusetts, which was the government’s site for federal arsenal. The mighty state militia fought Shays and his army of farmers back. Daniel Shays decided to escape afterwards, which was how the rebellion finally ended. This chaotic rebellion had a very affective aftermath. Shays’s rebellion’s significance is that it allowed leaders to meet, improved the Articles of Confederation, and paved the path to the successful constitution. In 1786, the first constitutional convention, also known as the Annapolis Convention, was held before Shays’s rebellion to discuss about revising the Articles of Confederation. Political leaders were concerned about the country’s form of government, but there was no
Cited: Encyclopedia of American History: Revolution and New Nation, 1761 to 1812, Revised Edition (Volume III) Feer, Robert A. "Shays 's Rebellion and the Constitution: A Study in Causation." The New England Quarterly 42 (1969): 388-410 Parker, Rachel R. "Shays ' Rebellion: An Episode in American State-Making." Sociological Perspectives 34 (1991): 95-113