“The Recent Troubles Up North”

Shay’s Rebellion:

Conflicting Views of Liberty & Freedom

1783

Demand for farm products drop

Prices Fall

Veterans had been discharged with certificates instead of cash

They were unable to pay debts accumulated during the Revolution

Merchants also had large debts

British creditors demanded payment for past exports

Merchants demanded repayment of loans in hard currency

Farmers did not have enough cash to pay their debts

Debtors were imprisoned

Massachusetts legislature raised taxes to pay off their large Revolutionary war debt

Taxes on land rose more than 60% between 1783 and 1786

2/3 of taxes was on land; 1/3 on wealth

Taxes had to be paid in hard currency

Unable to pay their taxes and mortgages, farmers were loosing their economic freedom as their land was seized.

4,000 lawsuits for debt were filed in just one county in 1785

“I have been greatly abused, have been obliged to do more than my part in the war; been loaded with class rate, town rates, province rates, Continental rates and all rates. [of taxation].. been pulled and hauled by sheriffs, constables and collectors, and had my cattle sold for less than they were worth. .. . The great men are going to get all we have and I think it is time for us to rise and put a stop to it, and have no more courts, nor sheriffs, nor collectors nor lawyers. . . .

-Plough Jogger, Massachusetts farmer

Livestock was seized. Crops, land, even furniture was taken and sold at reduced prices to pay farmers debts.

In the summer of 1785 farmers met in county conventions to petition the government. They requested that the state

1. Revise the tax system, shifting the burden from land to wealth 2. Cut taxes 3. Reduce the salaries of state officials 4. Put a delay on payment of debts 5. Issue paper money and accept it for

payment of debts and taxes 6. Accept payment in farm goods rather than coin.

Merchants opposed the issue of paper money because it would cause inflation The majority of legislators were from eastern cities.

Farmers petitions were ignored

Only two years after the end of the Revolution, farmers saw their government as unresponsive to the needs and demands of citizens

Beginning in August of 1786 farmers banded together. They called themselves Regulators and prevented courts from opening in order to prevent foreclosures.

One of the leaders, Luke Day, had been locked up in debtors prison the previous summer. Another, Job Shattuck sent a message to the judge: “The voice of the People of this county is such that the court shall not enter the courthouse until such time as the People shall have redress of the grievances they labor under at the present.”

Hoping to put down the rebellion, the Massachusetts legislature passed, and Governor James Bowdoin signed, the Militia Act, declaring that the Regulators were in a state of war.

They also passed The Riot Act which defined treason as being in a group of twelve or more armed men. And they suspended the right of habeas corpus!

By December 1786 the leader for whom the rebellion is named, Daniel Shays emerged.

Farmer rebellions spread throughout New England. Nearly 9,000 militants were involved. In New Hampshire men surrounded the legislature in Exeter, asking that taxes be returned and paper money issued.

In Rhode Island debtors took over the legislature and were issuing paper money.

They raised an army of 4,400 men. One hundred and twenty-nine Boston businessmen contributed the money to equip the army and go after the men they called “insurgents”

The army was led by General Benjamin Lincoln, veteran of the Revolution and friend of George Washington

http://www.shaysrebellion.stcc.edu/shaysapp/maps/home.do

What happens to these men?

Being pursued as traitors, are they captured and hanged?

Are their efforts futile?

Do any of the Revolutionary leaders for whom they fought see them as patriots?

What are the results of Shays’ Rebellion?

Are there heroes and villains in this story? Who was right?

Are the farmers fighting for the principles of the American Revolution or are they threatening the liberty gained by that revolution?

Why is this episode in American History worth our attention?

If you were alive in 1787 and did not know that the five year old United States would survive, would you be worried about Shays’ Rebellion?

http://www.shaysrebellion.stcc.edu/index.html