Shays' Rebellion
Encyclopedia
Central Massachusetts
Central Massachusetts is the geographically central region of Massachusetts. Though definitions vary, most include all of Worcester County and the northwest corner of Middlesex County. Worcester, the largest city in the area and the seat of Worcester County, is often considered the cultural capital...
and western Massachusetts
Western Massachusetts
Western Massachusetts is a loosely defined geographical region of the U.S. state of Massachusetts which contains the Berkshires, the Pioneer Valley, and some or all of the Swift River Valley. The region is always considered to include Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden counties, and the...
(mainly Springfield
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...
) from 1786 to 1787. The rebellion is named after Daniel Shays
Daniel Shays
Daniel Shays was an American soldier, revolutionary, and farmer famous for leading the Shays' Rebellion.-Early life:...
, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
.
The rebellion started on August 21, 1786, over financial difficulties and by January 1787, over one thousand Shaysites had been arrested. A militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
that had been raised as a private army defeated an attack on the federal Springfield Armory
Springfield Armory
The Springfield Armory, located in the City of Springfield, Massachusetts - from 1777 until its closing in 1968 - was the primary center for the manufacture of U.S. military firearms. After its controversial closing during the Vietnam War, the Springfield Armory was declared Western Massachusetts'...
by the main Shaysite force on February 3, 1787, and five rebels were killed in the action.
In the aftermath, fear spread that the American Revolution's democratic impulse had gotten out of hand. This fear, combined with the lack of institutional response to the uprising, energized calls to reevaluate the Articles of Confederation
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation, formally the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement among the 13 founding states that legally established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution...
and gave strong impetus to the Philadelphia Convention which began on May 17, 1787, which created the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
.
Daniel Shays
Daniel Shays was a poor farmhand from Massachusetts when the Revolution broke out. He joined the Continental ArmyContinental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...
where he fought at Battle of Lexington, Battle of Bunker Hill
Battle of Bunker Hill
The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775, mostly on and around Breed's Hill, during the Siege of Boston early in the American Revolutionary War...
, and Battle of Saratoga
Battle of Saratoga
The Battles of Saratoga conclusively decided the fate of British General John Burgoyne's army in the American War of Independence and are generally regarded as a turning point in the war. The battles were fought eighteen days apart on the same ground, south of Saratoga, New York...
, 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 began organizing for debt relief.
Mounting financial crisis
Shays' Rebellion saw some of its opening salvos in Central Massachusetts, in the town of UxbridgeUxbridge, Massachusetts
Uxbridge is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It was first settled in 1662, incorporated in 1727 at Suffolk County, and named for the Earl of Uxbridge. Uxbridge is south-southeast of Worcester, north-northwest of Providence, and southwest of Boston. It is part of...
, in Worcester County, on Feb. 3, 1783. Gov. John Hancock
John Hancock
John Hancock was a merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts...
suppressed local riots, after a request by Colonel Nathan Tyler of Uxbridge. Lieutenant Simeon Wheelock
Simeon Wheelock
Simeon Wheelock was a blacksmith from Uxbridge, Massachusetts, who served as a minuteman in the Massachusetts militia during the battles of Lexington and Concord in the American Revolutionary War...
, of the Town of Uxbridge died at Springfield
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...
, in 1786, while on duty, protecting the Armory. Shays's Rebellion caused George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
to emerge from retirement to advocate a stronger national government. Other Central Massachusetts towns also played prominent roles in the rebellion including Shrewsbury, which supported a staging area for a large march of 400 individuals on the Worcester courthouse in 1786 in an attempt to block the foreclosure of mortgages.
The financial situation leading to the rebellion included the problem that European war investors (among others) demanded payment in gold and silver
Coin
A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....
; there was not enough specie in the states, including Massachusetts, to pay the debts; and throughout the state, wealthy urban businessmen were trying to squeeze whatever assets they could get out of rural smallholders. Since the smallholders did not have the gold that the creditors demanded, everything they had was confiscated, including their houses.
At a meeting convened by aggrieved commoners, a farmer, Plough Jogger, encapsulated the situation:
It was decided that the legislature (General Court) in Boston would be petitioned.
Veterans of the Continental Army
Continental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...
, like General Charles Logan Harding aggrieved because they had been conscripted, had to fight with no payment to help them pay for their living, and because they were treated poorly upon discharge, including being locked up in debtors' prison, began to organize their neighbors, the besieged farmers, into squads and companies in order to halt the confiscations. Veteran Luke Day of West Springfield, Massachusetts
West Springfield, Massachusetts
The Town of West Springfield is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 28,391 at the 2010 census...
asked the judges holding the confiscatory hearings to adjourn until the Massachusetts legislature met. Throughout Massachusetts, newly organized farmers and veterans faced militia at courthouse thresholds. But sometimes the farmers and veterans were the militia, and often the majority of the militias sided with the veterans and farmers.
What caused Shays to take on the situation as a revolutionary cause was that on September 19, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts indicted eleven leaders of the rebellion as "disorderly, riotous, and seditious persons." Incensed by the indictment, Shays organized seven hundred armed farmers, most of them war veterans, and led them to Springfield. As they marched their ranks grew, and some of the militia joined along with additional reinforcements from the countryside. Boston elites were mortified at this resistance. The judges first postponed hearings for a day, then adjourned the court. Massachusetts Governor James Bowdoin
James Bowdoin
James Bowdoin II was an American political and intellectual leader from Boston, Massachusetts during the American Revolution. He served in both branches of the Massachusetts General Court in the colonial era and was president of the state's constitutional convention...
commanded the legislature to "vindicate the insulted dignity of government." Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams was an American statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. As a politician in colonial Massachusetts, Adams was a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and was one of the architects of the principles of American...
claimed that foreigners ("British
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
emissaries") were instigating treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
among the commoners, and he helped draw up a Riot Act, and a resolution suspending habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
in order to permit the authorities to keep people in jail without trial. Adams proposed a new legal distinction: that rebellion in a republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
, unlike in a monarchy
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
, should be punished by execution.
The legislatures also moved to make some concessions to the upset farmers, saying certain old taxes could now be paid in goods instead of money. However, this only led to increasing confrontations between farmers and militia.
Henry Gale, a co-leader
George Gale, in The Gale Family Records wrote the following in 1866:The end of the rebellion
Massachusetts General Court
The Massachusetts General Court is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the Colonial Era, when this body also sat in judgment of judicial appeals cases...
for tax and debt relief, and protesters shutting down local courts to prevent judges from enforcing debt collection, Massachusetts Governor James Bowdoin
James Bowdoin
James Bowdoin II was an American political and intellectual leader from Boston, Massachusetts during the American Revolution. He served in both branches of the Massachusetts General Court in the colonial era and was president of the state's constitutional convention...
took action. Governor Bowdoin was unsympathetic to the farmers' cause and he dispatched a militia financed by Boston merchants headed by former American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
General Benjamin Lincoln
Benjamin Lincoln
Benjamin Lincoln was an American army officer. He served as a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War...
as well as General William Shepard
William Shepard
William Lyman Shepard was a United States Representative from Massachusetts. Born in Westfield, he attended the common schools, engaged in agricultural pursuits, and served in the French and Indian wars for six years. He was a member of the committee of correspondence for Westfield in 1774, and...
's local militia of 900 men to protect the Springfield court so that it could continue to process property confiscations. The rebels were dispersed in January 1787 with over 1,000 arrested. Bowdoin declared that Americans would descend into "a state of anarchy, confusion, and slavery" unless the rule of the law was upheld.
Shays sent a message to Luke Day proposing to seize weapons from the Springfield armory on January 25, 1787, before Lincoln's 4,000-man combined Boston and Springfield militia could arrive. Day's response that his forces would not be ready until January 26 was never received by Shays (a real-world example of the Two Generals' Problem
Two Generals' Problem
In computing, the Two Generals' Problem is a thought experiment meant to illustrate the pitfalls and design challenges of attempting to coordinate an action by communicating over an unreliable link...
). Shays's militia approached the armory not knowing they would have no reinforcements.
General Shepard's forces were unpaid and without food or adequate arms. Shepard had requested permission to use the weaponry in the Springfield Armory, but Secretary of War Henry Knox
Henry Knox
Henry Knox was a military officer of the Continental Army and later the United States Army, and also served as the first United States Secretary of War....
had denied the request on the grounds that it required Congressional approval and that Congress was out of session. Shepard reached the armory before Shays, and, ignoring Knox, Shepard's militia commandeered the weapons stored there.
When Shays and his forces neared the armory, they found Shepard's militia waiting for them. Shepard ordered a warning shot; the two cannon present were fired directly into Shays's men. Four of the Shaysites were killed, twenty wounded. There was no musket fire from either side. Crying "Murder!", for they never thought that their neighbors and fellow veterans would fire at them, the rebels fled north. On the opposite side of the river, Day's forces also fled north. The militia captured many of the rebels on February 4 in Petersham, Massachusetts
Petersham, Massachusetts
Petersham is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,234 at the 2010 census. Petersham is home to a considerable amount of conservation land, including the Quabbin Reservation, Harvard Forest, the Swift River Reservation, and Federated Women's Club State...
; by March there was no more armed resistance.
Shepard reported to his superiors that he had made use of the armory without authorization, and returned the weapons in good condition after the armed conflict had ended.
Several of the rebels were fined, imprisoned, and sentenced to death, but in 1788 a general amnesty was granted. Although most of the condemned men were either pardoned or had their death sentences commuted, two of the condemned men, John Bly and Charles Rose, were hanged on December 6, 1787. Shays himself was pardoned in 1788 and he returned to Massachusetts. Sometime afterwards, he moved to the Conesus, New York, area where he lived until he died poor and obscure in 1825. He is buried in the Union cemetery.
Consequences
Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
, who was serving as an ambassador to France at the time, refused to be alarmed by Shays' Rebellion. In a letter to a friend, he argued that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing. "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." In contrast to Jefferson's sentiments George Washington, who at the time was urging many through letters about forming a better and more energetic national government through the union of the states, in a letter to Henry Lee wrote in regard to the rebellion, "You talk, my good sir, of employing influence to appease the present tumults in Massachusetts. I know not where that influence is to be found, or, if attainable, that it would be a proper remedy for the disorders. Influence is not government. Let us have a government by which our lives, liberties, and properties will be secured, or let us know the worst at once."
Ultimately, however, the uprising was the climax of a series of events of the 1780s that convinced a powerful group of Americans that the national government needed to be stronger so that it could create uniform economic policies and protect property owners from infringements on their rights by local majorities. Men like Charles Harding helped to spread concepts created during Shays' Rebellion. These ideas stemmed from the fear that a private liberty, such as the secure enjoyment of property rights, could be threatened by public liberty - unrestrained power in the hands of the people. James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
addressed this concept by stating that "Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty as well as the abuses of power."
Further reading
- Beard, Charles. 1935. An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. New York: Macmillan.
- Churchill Films. 1986. A Little Rebellion Now and Then: Prologue to the Constitution.
- Collier, James LincolnJames Lincoln CollierJames Lincoln Collier is a journalist, author, and professional musician.Collier was born to Edmund Collier and Katherine Brown. He came from a family of writers and teachers, including his father and several aunts and uncles. He graduated from Hamilton College in 1950...
and Collier, ChristopherChristopher Collier (historian)Christopher Collier is an American historian and author.Christopher Collier, known as Kit, is the son of Edmund Collier, a writer, and Katherine Brown. He comes from a family of writers and teachers. He attended Clark University and Columbia University,...
. The Winter Hero (Four Winds Press, 1978). (The rebellion is the central story of this children's novel.) - Degenhard, William. The Regulators (The Dial Press, 1943; Second Chance Press, 1981).
- Kaufman, Martin, editor. Shays's Rebellion: Selected Essays, (Westfield, Mass., 1987)
- Martin, WilliamWilliam Martin-People born in 20th century:* Bill Martin , rugby league footballer of the 1960s for Great Britain, and Workington Town* Bill Martin , Scottish songwriter* William A. Martin , American computer scientist...
. The Lost Constitution (2007). (The rebellion plays a central role in this novel.) - McCarthy, Timothy Patrick and John McMillan, eds. 2003. The Radical Reader: A Documentary History of the American Radical Tradition. New York: New Press.
- Middleton, Lamar. 1938. Revolt, USA. New York: Stackpole Sons.
- Minot, George Richards. History of the Insurrections in Massachusetts, 1788. (The earliest account of the rebellion. Although this account was deeply unsympathetic to the rural Regulators, it became the basis for most subsequent tellings, including the many mentions of the rebellion in Massachusetts town and state histories.)
- Richards, Leonard L. 2002. Shay's Rebellion: The American Revolution's Final Battle. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
- Starkey, Marion Lena. 1955. A Little Rebellion. New York: Knopf.
- Zinn, Howard. 1995. "A Kind of Revolution." Pp. 76–101 in A People's History of the United States: 1492–Present. New York: Harper Perennial.
External links
- Selected Bibliography of Shay's Rebellion compiled by the United States Army Center of Military History