The Rebellion: The Cause Of Shay's Rebellion

After the war, America was a chaotic place. Although there was the Article of Confederation, America’s system of government was incomplete. A lot of problems existed and people were revolting. Of all those revolts, two were significant, the Shay’s Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion. The Shay’s Rebellion happened in 1786, when there was an economy crisis and the local courts started to shut down the farms. The Whiskey Rebellion happened in 1791, when the government imposed taxes on the whiskey. Although both of the revolts were crashed down, they changed the government. After the Whiskey and the Shay’s Rebellion, people promoted a stronger federal government, precedent of obeying the law was set and it had shown that the executive would act to execute the law.

The actions of the members of the Shay’s Rebellion were justified because state officials took their land, to pay their own debt. Shay’s Rebellion was a fight against government control. The country after the Revolutionary War was severely damaged especially in the trade market. The British cut off trades in the West Indies market crippling the economy. Due to the poor economy the farmers had difficulty selling their products and being able to pay the money requested to the government to pay off their war debts. This enabled the states to take the farmers’ land to pay the state's debts. Shay’s Rebellion, although dangerous the rebellion wanted to force the government to making their own money and create new policies in order to pay off the

The rebellions of Upper and Lower Canada were in the interests of self-government but were doomed to failure from their beginning. Each of these two colonies encountered a great deal of problems right from the institution of the Constitution Act of 1791 and the problems continually got worse until the only choice to some seem to be rebellion. There were several problems that lead to the rebellions of 1837-38. In Lower Canada there was the agricultural crisis that caused a large number of starvations, to the French and English political and social problems within the colony. There were several different reasons that caused the rebellion in Upper Canada but these caused were mainly rooted in

When a revolt occurred in American History, there were countless reasons that triggered the public eye to perform acts of violence or open confrontations to the government or a famous ruler. To be more specific, the Bacon’s Rebellion was one of the most famous uprisings in the 1670s and the outcome was being defeated. Nathaniel Bacon, who was a Virginia settler, instigated the issue and wanted to start a rivalry towards the Native Americans. William Berkeley, who was the Governor of the Virginia Colony, was very easy-going about the situation and wanted no tension towards the Native Americans. Bacon believed that the Native Americans was invading Jamestown’s territory area, and he wanted Berkeley to take action by advancing better security. Since nothing was being done on Berkeley’s side of the bargain, Bacon took it upon himself and initiated his opinions to the community. Bacon informed other settlers, servants and slaves to oppose against the Native Americans. Even though this rebellion was about fighting over property, it sparked a lot of additional motives within a one-year period. The revolt had countless cause/effects, and diverse civil rules and beliefs between Berkeley and Bacon. In the 1600’s, events like culture clashing and land rights played a huge role of the riot and molded the background to the Bacon’s Rebellion. Also, the importance of the rebellion encouraged affective outcomes like the Declaration of the People and it becomes one of the first rebellions in the American Colonies.

In 1791, under the advisement of Alexander Hamilton, congress passed the whiskey tax. This tax, put a twenty-five percent tax on whiskey. Hamilton created this tax in hopes of the federal government gaining more money to help pay of the nation’s debt. However, in doing so, this angered many people, especially farmers in western Pennsylvania, because they distilled the extra grain they had to make whiskey and sell it to make extra income. These small operations in western Pennsylvania rebelled by erecting liberty poles and taring and feathering tax collectors. George Washington, who was president during this time, saw the outburst and decided to take action against the angered farmers. Washington gathered about 13,000 men from the militia to put an end to this rebellion. In doing so, Washington showed that the government help the power over the citizens. In The Whiskey Rebellion, by Thomas Slaughter, he describes different consequences that arise from the whiskey tax. Slaughter presents three main points, which include conflicts between the east and west, two political systems that begin to develop, and the actual rebellion.

During this period of time from 1783 to 1800 there was a lot of financial instability among the colonies because of the debt that had been garnered from the Revolutionary War. There were also riots, i.e., the Whiskey and Shays Rebellions, which resulted from Americans who were upset about government taxation. The government was also undergoing huge amounts of change such as the change from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution as well as the development of separate political parties. Though American’s fight for independence had long since passed by the time they began to develop the system by which they would govern themselves as a sovereign country, many of the things they experienced under British rule, such as military use and

1. a) One act British imposed on other colonies was the Stamp Act of 1765. The British parliament imposed all American colonists that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London. Doing so, it carried a revenue stamp. The purpose of the tax was to help pay for troops in North America after the British won in the Seven Year’s War.

1. Compare and contrast the Whiskey rebellion to Shays rebellion. How would the differing results inform a historian of the power of the Federal Government in comparison to the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution? (page 187).

Daniel Shays Rebellion took place during the time of America's post war depression that from 1784-1787. The rebellion fits into the theme of ‘culture and society’. The confederation had an enormous debt that had built up during the Revolutionary War. Congress showed its weakness that weighed heavily on debtors and having no power to tax. The confederation could only make requisition on the states but even then could only receive one-sixth of the money. Robert Morris and his Philadelphia allies had an idea for a centralized government after the flaws found in the Articles of Confederation.

Shay’s Rebellion went too far with the whole thing. Going against a government choice is

Daniel Shay is a national criminal in the United States, and his crimes will not be taken lightly. When we catch him, he will be sentenced to prison, along with any other men who were on his side. In case you have not heard, Daniel Shay created a large uprising last year that is finally over now. We call it “Shay’s Rebellion,” but it is basically just one big protest that he and his farming community started.

I believe in the action of the members of Shay’s Rebellion but they also went a little too far. I think this because they proved their point when they forced the court in Massachusetts, but they didn't have to shut down more and more courts throughout Massachusetts. In the textbook on page 195 in the textbook it states that, “farmers suffered because they could not sell their goods” and “They had trouble paying the money requested by the states…” Also if they could not pay these bills their farms were shut down and they could be taken to jail. This tells me that the farmers didn't want this because they lost their families, farms, and money over this. However, since the money that the states requested was for the debts of the Revolutionary War, the government didn't have much

As everyone knows, there is always something going on within the government that we agree with or disagree with. This was no different back in the 1700’s and 1800’s. It was a very tough time for the American people as the American Revolution had just ended. America was in serious debt, and someone had to come up with a way to fix this issue. The new Government of the United States was trying to establish itself, and the excise tax on distilled spirits seemed to be a good start. While taxation is never popular amongst American Citizens, the duties that were imposed by the taxes resulting in the Whiskey Rebellion were a necessary evil for the American Economy.

“What country ever existed without a rebellion?” Shay's Rebellion is when taxes were raised and farmers were unable to pay them so they were thrown in jail. They were angry so they broke into the government arsenal and stole weapons. As a result the local militia killed four farmers. Some say the farmers were rebels nevertheless they were freedom fighters because they fight for what they believe in, they are pressed with harsh rules and they just want to be equal with the upper class.

Some might say that Shay and the farmers were revolutionary heroes, but they were just reckless rebels.