January 25, 2010

Source

It was on this day in 1787, that Daniel Shays, formerly a captain in Washington’s army, led a force of 1,200 irate western Massachusetts farmers in an assault on the Springfield, Mass., arsenal.

His ill-equipped, ill-trained force easily was repelled by state militia under the command of General Benjamin Lincoln, and he thereafter had to flee to Petersham where, on Feb. 4, he was soundly defeated. In essence, this ended the frontier protest movement known to history as Shays’ Rebellion.With a large bounty on his head, Shays managed to escape to Canada. However, he soon returned to the U.S., fully convinced that his insurgency was warranted and that he could obtain a pardon.
To his surprise, he soon learned that he had been excluded from a general pardon and instead was sentenced to death by the Massachusetts Supreme Court. However, his personal petition for a pardon finally was granted and he thereafter settled in Sparta, N.Y., where he died in 1825.

Born into extreme poverty, Shays had overcome his impoverished upbringing to become a capable, well-respected military officer. He fought courageously in the battles of Lexington, Bunker Hill, Saratoga, and Stony Point. For his honorable military service, he eventually was granted a federal pension.
The frontier protest movement associated with the name of Daniel Shays was an armed revolt in Massachusetts against the constituted authority of the eastern-dominated state government. During the economic depression of the mid-1780s, the state government had passed a series of laws raising taxes and decreeing that all debts be paid in specie, making it extremely difficult if not impossible for impoverished farmers to avoid foreclosure.

In August 1786, the angry insurgents had forced the closing of several courts. In September, they forced the state Supreme Court to adjourn, thus preventing the further execution of foreclosures and debt processes. Clearly, this revolt had become a major challenge to constituted government and law and order.


Although the state government did in time manage to crush the rebellion, the insurgency had caused panic and outrage among conservatives. For example, Abigail Adams, no doubt reflecting the views of her husband John, declared in a letter to Jefferson that the insurgents were “ignorant, wrestless (sic) desperadoes” who “without conscience or principals” have staged a revolt “under pretence of grievances which have no existence but in their imaginations.”

The revolt also appeared to have persuaded many, including some of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 meeting in Philadelphia, that it had become imperative to replace the weak Articles of Confederation government with a strong national government that could deal more swiftly and more resolutely with future political, social and economic unrest. The significant consequences of Shays’ rebellion soon were evident. The Massachusetts legislature quickly passed laws that postponed the imposition of new taxes and limited the liability of debtors, thus bringing much-needed relief to the insurgents. Also, the “scare” that the revolt created greatly strengthened the nationalistic movement of James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, a movement that led to the calling of the Constitutional Convention and the eventual creation of a strong national government.