The Critical Point Of Shay's Rebellion

The rebellion was led by a man named Daniel Shay and lasted over six months. The goal of the rebellion was to prevent the trial and imprisonment of the debt-ridden farmers. After a few protests following the tax collections, the governor of Massachusetts, named James Bowdoin, called the militia to report the peoples’ unwillingness to pay and follow the law. The critical point of the rebellion was Shays' march on the government arsenal at Springfield in January 1787. The only means of standing off troops who were advancing from Boston under General Benjamin Lincoln. At the arsenal, the defending militia fired their cannons into the ranks of the advancing rebels, killing four and wounding 20. The militia quickly defeated the group, but the causes
Merchants from Europe and America started to demand payment after the war, they also decided to no longer give out loans until they were completely payed back. These merchants wanted their payment to be in hard currency or with services, so this put pressure on the lower-class people of America. This crisis was most intense in the rural and relatively newly settled areas of central and western Massachusetts. Although Massachusetts was the focal point of the crisis, other states experienced similar economic hardships. Many farmers in this area suffered from high debt as they tried to start new farms. Unlike many other state legislatures in the 1780s, the Massachusetts government didn't respond to the economic crisis by passing pro-debtor laws, like forgiving debt and printing more paper money. To make up for this the government raised taxes for everyone. Massachusetts and other states also decided to wait to pay back the soldiers who had fought during the Revolutionary war. Some people resisted the high taxes and unresponsive government. These people who resisted would later be known as the "Regulators". But this time it was Massachusetts's settlers who were angry with a republican government in Boston, rather than with the British government across the Atlantic. As a result local sheriffs seized many farms and some farmers who couldn't pay their
The rebellion loomed large in the minds of delegates who came to Philadelphia to find a solution to the crises destabilizing the fledgling nation. It presented the most dramatic example of the unrest and dissension occurring throughout the new United States that alarmed people across a wide spectrum of post-revolutionary society. Citizens understood that the American Revolution would mean both greater economic opportunity as well as the end of political oppression. For many, expectations were dashed while others railed against the social and economic mobility the American Revolution had unleashed. It involved fundamental economic, social, and political issues, Shays’ Rebellion forced ordinary Americans no less than elite leaders like George Washington, to think about their understandings of the promises of the American Revolution and what kind of government would fulfill them. This contributed to the creation of a strong federal government more capable of addressing the economic and political needs of a new nation. The Philadelphia Convention of 1787 allowed government officials to take a closer look at why the previous government laws, the Articles, were not working. With the new understanding of a promising government George Washington also became the first president of the United States. One of his first motions was to fix the Articles, which resulted in the formation of