Prerequisites for the uprising
History has proved that democracy can make a positive impact on the well-being of the people. The Shays’ Rebellion in 1786 is an excellent example of democracy being exercised by the citizens to turn hardship into an opportunity for a better and just life. The war demanded great sacrifices and difficulties from the people. The Revolutionary War has devastated many farmers; taxes have increased. Many farmers and artisans fell into debt, and the paper money in their hands lost all value. The inflation of paper money helped the big capitalists shift the war’s costs onto the people’s shoulders. After the peace conclusion, the influx of English goods led to the ruin of some of the artisans. Prisons in New England were overflowing with debtors; the courts confiscated their land and livestock in favor of creditors.
After the Revolutionary War, farmers who had fought in the war received insufficient compensation leading to an economic struggle to afford food and pay off debt for goods previously obtained. However, the government demanded these debts be paid by imposing irrational policies, making it impossible for farmers to comply (Federici). Therefore, after the war, a substantial national debt remained, which the government decided to shift onto farmers by increasing taxes.
Consequently, farmers who owed arrears began to sell livestock, houses, and land for arrears. As a result, farmers and the urban poor, mainly artisans, in some northern colonies started an uprising, led by the Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays (Johannesson 363). These circumstances led to the Shays’ Rebellion, headed by farmers that sought a just way to pay for their debts instead of being charged high taxes, suffering arrests, or having their farms foreclosed (Johannesson 368). Furthermore, this event formed the path for creating the Constitution of the United States of America. The farmers fought for the right to a better life and freedom to live justly. Therefore, the rebels set the cornerstones for the government, people, and a democracy.
The Shays’ Rebellion
The Shays’ Rebellion started in 1786; Daniel Shays could not pay his debt to creditors after the War against Great Britain. The government never paid him back for his service during the war. In other words, after the war, according to “American Government 2e” by Glen Kurtz, Shay’s Rebellion was formed by groups of farmers from westerns Massachusetts. In 1786 because The Continental Congress failed, they paid them back for their service during the war against Great Britain. The rebels, in the amount of 12-15 thousand people, bear arms. They demanded not to collect debts from farmers, not to sell their houses and livestock. In this uprising, the farmers’ poor peasants and the urban lower classes, such as factory workers, day laborers, and artisans, made their demands. People were facing prison because of debts; also, they were facing foreclosures from their properties. The rebels’ requirements included the equal capital division between the rich and the poor. Hence, they wanted the rich to work as ordinary people.
Explanation and reasons
Everything started because the government did not have enough money to pay the soldiers for their duties. Farmers could not pay their debt after the war, and the government, instead of forgiving people’s debt, started forcing people to pay debts and new taxes too. As a result, soldiers were upset against the government. Thus, the Shays’ Rebellion began protesting in front of the courthouse, and they closed the courthouse. The government sent their militicians to fight against Shays’ followers. However, they could not do anything because they had no power to send more militicians without the approval of the state representative.
In other words, Shays’ Rebellion sent a message to the Continental Congress that they had no power to force people to pay taxes and showed the whole country that the new government was fragile. Consequently, the Constitution of the USA began to formulate since the Shays’ Rebellion. The main factors and causes of the Shays’ Rebellion were economic policy, aggressive tax and debt collection, political corruption.
Only six months later, US troops were able to suppress this uprising. To consolidate their power, the bourgeoisie of the North and the slave-owning planters of the South decided to introduce constitutional changes. Representatives of the bourgeoisie and slave owners secretly worked out a new constitution in 1787, which is still in effect today. The Shays’ Rebellion was a series of violent protests organized in 1786 and 1787 by a group of American farmers who objected to state and local taxes. The most brutal rebellion acts have occurred in rural Massachusetts, where years of crop failures, low commodity prices, and high taxes have left farmers facing the loss of their farms or even imprisonment. The reactionaries’ demands, dissatisfied with their position and ready to go against the government, were distributing property and abolishing taxes and debts. Significantly, in February 1787, the uprising was suppressed by government troops, and the instigators were sentenced to death. Daniel Schays’ uprising entailed changes on the part of the government.
Changes and restructuring the American Republic Foundation
While the Shays’ Rebellion never posed a significant threat to the still loosely organized post-war federal government of the United States, it drew the attention of legislators to the severe shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation. Preparations for the drafting and ratification of the Constitution were frequently mentioned during the debates. The threat posed by the Shays’ Rebellion helped persuade retired General George Washington to return to government service, leading to his two terms as the first president of the United States (Woźniakowski 9-10). George Washington stated that no “stronger evidence can be given of the want of energy in our government than these disorders” (Johannesson 372-373). Thus, Washington believed that the Shays’ Rebellion demonstrated the need to create a strong central government in order to end the unrest.
The Shays’ Rebellion is remembered as a crucial, if not entirely successful, a touchstone in shaping America’s current system of government. As mentioned above, the uprising began in late August 1786, and the most severe outbreaks of rebellion occurred in rural Massachusetts (Van Cleve 214). Led by Daniel Shays, the rebels formed their troops and began attacking state courts, destroying court cases there, such as issues of taxes and debts. They hoped that with the help of force and weapons, they would be able to achieve their goals and improve the state of the economy in the country.
In December, the rebels decided to seize the Springfield military arsenal, but government forces defeated Shays’ troops there. In February 1787, the Shays’ uprising was suppressed by the government (Van Cleve 214). The rioters were sentenced to death with their leader, Daniel Shays, but later Shays was pardoned and released from the death sentence. The Shays’ Rebellion forced the government to revise the articles of the Confederation and amend them to achieve the strengthening and centralization of the system of power, make life easier for the lower classes, and solve the country’s economic problems. Thus, with the help of constant changes, in secret from the people, a new US Constitution was developed, which is still valid today.
The new Constitution consolidated the republican system of the country, while the monarchy remained in Europe. The first president, the head of the executive branch, who was elected precisely once every four years, was Washington; he received tremendous powers. Moreover, the lower house, the House of Representatives, elected deputies for each state. The upper house, namely the Senate, consisted of representatives from all states. Important to add that these are not the only changes. The Shays’ Rebellion brought about significant changes to the US Constitution; thus, it is essential to mention that the revolution was not in vain.
To conclude, the Shays’ Rebellion was the culmination of the democratic movement in the United States in the 18th century’s last quarter. In addition, the Shays’ Rebellion influenced the revision of the Articles of Confederation. Undoubtedly, the Shays’ Rebellion was not the only reason for adopting the new Constitution, but there is no doubt that it served as an important motivation for the amendments. Therefore, one of the main results of the Shays’ uprising was that representatives of the ruling classes concluded that it was necessary to urgently revise the power system to achieve its centralization and strengthening.
Works Cited
Federici, Silvia. “From Commoning to Debt: Financialization, Micro-Credit and the Changing Architecture of Capital Accumulation–CADTM.” CADTM. 2016.
Johannesson, Sveinn. “Securing the State”: James Madison, Federal Emergency Powers, and the Rise of the Liberal State in Postrevolutionary America.” The Journal of American History 104.2 (2017): pp. 363-385.
Kurtz, Glen. American Government 2e. OpenStax, 2019.
Van Cleve, George W. “8 Shays’s Rebellion: The Final Battle of the American Revolution?”. We Have Not a Government: The Articles of Confederation and the Road to the Constitution, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017, pp. 214-242. doi.org/10.7208/9780226480640-011
Woźniakowski, Tomasz P. “Why the Sovereign Debt Crisis Could Lead to a Federal Fiscal Union: The paradoxical Origins of Fiscalization in the United States and Insights for the European Union.” Journal of European public policy 25.4 (2017): pp. 1-21.