Shays ' Rebellion : Authority And Distress

Professor Thomas Slaughter has provided a most thorough overview of the Whiskey Rebellion, which he asserts had by the time this book was conceived nearly two centuries after the episode transpired, had become a largely forgotten chapter of our nation's history since the time of the Civil War. He cites as direct evidence of this fact the almost complete absence of any mention of the event in many contemporary textbooks of the conservative era of the 1980's, which this reviewer can attest to as well, having been a high school student in the late 1970's, who never heard of the Whiskey Rebellion until years later. Building off of his own dissertation on the topic, the author convincingly shows that the Whiskey Rebellion was in fact an event

Shays' Rebellion was an armed uprising in western Massachusetts that run from 1786 to 1787. The rebels, led by Daniel Shays were small farmers angered by debilitating debt and taxes and failure to repay such debts often resulted in imprisonment in prisons. This was viewed by many as unjust, unfair and primarily favoring those with money. The levying of the taxes was orchestrated so as to put money back to the coffers after the American revolution. Those adversely affected were small scale subsistence farmers and because of this, many found it extremely difficult to feed and cloth their families. There was also the issue of the tax system. The tax system at this time was regressive in that much of the Eastern state economies lay in the

A progression of tax revolts by Massachusetts ranchers against the Massachusetts law making body in 1786-1787. Shays' Rebellion, the post-Revolutionary conflict between New England ranchers and traders that tried the unsafe organizations of the new republic, debilitated to dive the divided states into a common war. The Rebellion emerged in Massachusetts in 1786, spread to different states, and finished in a failed assault on a government munitions stockpile. It slowed down in 1787 with the decision of a more well known representative, a financial rise, and the formation of the Constitution of the United States in Philadelphia.

Although not widely known, Shays’s Rebellion greatly impacted the debate on sovereignty and led many to conclude that the only possible solution was the centralization of power in a national authority. Historian John Garraty notes, “The lessons became plain: Liberty must not become an excuse for license; and therefore greater authority must be vested in the central government.”[1] While this effect was not the “rebels’” intended goal, Shays’s Rebellion helped shape the construction of the U.S. Constitution and the American political thought that has since followed. An analysis of both the causes and effects of Shays’s Rebellion highlights its contribution to the

Likewise to the Regulator Movement, Shay’s Rebellion occurred because of the property taken away from the poor farmers. Shay’s Rebellion of Massachusetts was caused from post war recession, lack of payment of army stipends, failure to receive payment from bonds, and farmers going into debt, which led to property being taken away from the yeomen farmers; this rebellion was significant in the terms of the realization of a stronger national government and the call for the Annapolis Convention. The elitist has little idea on what to do with the new found freedom. Currency was not yet established. Naturally a recession occurred. Trade came to a standstill. Nothing was coming in nor out. Furthermore, Shay’s Rebellion happened due to lack of

The Regulator movement was a pre-Revolutionary War era revolt in the North and South Carolina colonies. The movement occurred because the government that controlled the backcountry farmers was guilty of extorting the lower

Robert Gross’ The Minutemen and Their World examines a town 's role in the events of the colonial revolution. Specifically that of Concord, Massachusetts in the years before, during and after the Revolution. Gross provides details about the inner workings of town politics, religion, and society for the period. He notes how town’s people’s rivalries and religious fissures occupied the townspeople through the prerevolutionary period. Gross details how Concord was largely absent from the pre-Revolutionary activities of other communities, and then the unification process that occurred as conflict grew closer. By analyzing specific events in the town’s history Goss is able to draw conclusions about why certain events took place leading up to

The main conflict of Shay’s rebellion was farmers in debt versus the state of Massachusetts’ government. Shays’ rebellion was quite similar to the American revolution, it was citizens resisting the government when nothing was done to fix the nation’s issues. The Articles

The March of the Paxton Boys, Regulator Movement, Shay’s rebellion, and the Whiskey rebellion were violent byproducts of young America’s struggle with democracy to express the people’s grievances in the eighteenth century, notably those who lived in the backcountries such as farmers.

“Better to fight for something than to live for nothing.” -George S. Patton. This is the opinion of many, and may have been in the minds of Shays’ and his followers in the event known as Shays’ Rebellion. Shays’ Rebellion was an event where farmers rebelled against the government for taxes that were “too high”. They stole weapons and though they were small in number, scared people around the country.

Dudley, William, Teresa O'neill, and Bruno Leone, eds. The American Revolution Oppsing Viewpoints. San Diego: GreenHaven P, 1992.

“I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing” (Jefferson). Thomas Jefferson wrote these words in a letter to James Madison after hearing about Shay’s Rebellion while he was a foreign diplomat in Paris. After the rebellion happened, the “Shaysites” as they were called, were labeled as traitors to their country and the democratic form of government. But were they really? Many of the men fighting in the rebellion felt that they were being oppressed just as they had been under British rule.

The War of the Regulation was a revolution orchestrated by the Regulators that took place in the North Carolina colonies of British America between 1765 and 17711. The citizens of these colonies were fighting against the colonial officials due to corruption, economic depression, and population increase. Furthermore, it is considered to have been the propeller of the American Civil War, as citizens fought for the same rights and the need for representation in the government. The revolution marked an important time in America’s history, as it highlights the importance of democracy and the need for equality across ethnic, class, and other social disparities. An understanding of the War of the Regulation highlights a significant time in the

Gordon Wood’s Radicalism of the American Revolution is a book that extensively covers the origin and ideas preceding the American Revolution. Wood’s account of the Revolution goes beyond the history and timeline of the war and offers a new encompassing look inside the social ideology and economic forces of the war. Wood explains in his book that America went through a two-stage progression to break away from the Monarchical rule of the English. He believes the pioneering revolutionaries were rooted in the belief of an American Republic. However, it was the radical acceptance of democracy that was the final step toward independence. The transformation between becoming a Republic, to ultimately becoming a democracy, is where Wood’s

It is easy to interpret the American Revolution simply as a struggle for freedom. The magnanimous phrases of the Declaration of Independence have embedded in our hearts and minds glorious images of the Founding Fathers fighting for the natural rights of man. The American Revolution, however, also had a darker side to it, the side of self-interest and profit. The signers of the Declaration represented various classes – the working class, the wealthy land owners and merchants, the intellectuals, and the social elite. Each of these strata had its own set of expectations and fears, which lent a new dimension to the cause of the Revolution. The pressure of these internal, and often overlapping groups, combined with the oppressive external