After Fighting For Their Independence In The American Revolution,

However, an uprising led by Revolutionary War captain Daniel Shays that took place in western Massachusetts in 1786 was the event that got the attention of the founding fathers. The Shay’s Rebellion demonstrated to the founding fathers that the Articles of Confederation brought commercial problems, threaten civil order, and conflicts between states. Likewise, at the constitutional convention the founding fathers crafted and ratified the U.S constitution to address the problem the Articles of Confederation could not tackle. Unlike the Articles of Confederation, the divided the powers of the national government into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. Furthermore, the constitution established a one true currency system and presented the job duties and requirements the three branches and individual states. Unlike the Articles of Confederation, the constitution presented the rights of its people (Bill of Rights) and a system of check of balance and separation of powers that the United States as democratic country. The Articles of Confederation was a popular democracy with its chaotic results and the constitution was a responsible democracy with its civilized outcomes.

After the Articles of Confederation was ratified, their weakness was known. Not only did they lack power, but were relying on donation from other states. The economic decreased when the Articles of Confederation were ratified in 1781 (doc B). This was because the central government didn’t have the power to regulate trade or tax. States could tax themselves. The states didn't want to pay their debt. Most people were not aware of the situation around their government. People felt they were being taxed unfairly and this led to the Shay’s rebellion which threatened the government. The government could not regulate trade and the Rhode Island Assembly responded in a letter (doc A). The assembly thought it would good to give the congress money so that “they would become independent of their constituents” (doc A). The money donated were not enough off the debt. The government owed money to farmers, foreign nations, and wealthy Americans. In (doc C), Joseph says he is disappointed by the in congress because they refuse to pay and are not capable to pay the soldiers and commanders. Since the farmers are not getting their pay, the farmers started the Shay’s rebellion which lasted 2

After the Shay’s Rebellion, governors felt like the Articles of Confederation needed to be reform and a stronger federal government would be necessary. During the Shay’s Rebellion, farmers tried to stop the judges from going to work and they revolted. The government reacts by sending a state militia,

After winning the Revolutionary War, the states faced the strenuous task of creating a national government that balanced federal powers with individual and state rights. The first endeavor resulted in the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation gave too much power to the states and not enough power to the federal government. The imbalance of power resulted in a weak national government. The Constitution replaced the feeble Articles with a powerful federal government that incorporated republican ideals. Under this new system of government George Washington and Thomas Jefferson established new procedures, laws, and policies that set the standards and structured the new government. The laws, policies, and actions of both George

The Articles of Confederation was a loose “league of friendship” between the thirteen colonies that would create a confederation in contrast to Great Britain 's unitary system. While the Articles of Confederation helped establish a systemic role in trying to unify many of the states under a weak central government, it later created many more problems than solutions. One of them being that Congress had no ability to propose taxes to deal with war debts and running the government. Another weakness was that Congress did not have the ability to regulate commerce among states and foreign nations which hurt Congress’s credibility. One of the most considerable weaknesses of Congress under the Articles of Confederation was its failure to provide for a strong central government. The Articles of Confederation was created to not compare with the totalitarian regime of the British and made sure of not creating a strong central government. The problem was that without a strong central government it eliminated all sovereignty that the central government had, giving increased sovereignty to states which lead to increased chaos. It is seen that Shays Rebellion was that nail in the coffin of The Articles. Lead by David Shay a group of farmers who had served in the Continental Army marched to Springfield, Massachusetts to stop the state court from foreclosing on the veterans farms. Congress’s failure in being able to formulate a militia and stop the disgruntled farmers was the end of The

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

As territorial expansion continued, the inability of the Articles of Confederation to control even a small state like Rhode Island narrowed their chances to control the entire new nation. Rhode Island had the option “to reject the recommendation of Congress” (Doc A), seemingly giving all states the right to ignore Congress’ commands. The other way around, when discussing the American army, the Congress had “the inability… to pay their demands” (Doc C). Without the ability to fulfil a citizen’s requests, the states were left to control themselves independently. Additionally, the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation meant “that the better kind of people… will be led by the insecurity of property, the loss of confidence in their rulers, and the want of public faith and rectitude” (Doc G). The Articles of Confederation couldn’t hold any power in the states, couldn’t fulfil states’ requests, and people would lose confidence in the government’s ability to maintain the society. This absence of government connection to both the states and the people forced the farming class towards what was known as Shays’ Rebellion. Due to a lack of central government, each state could tax the crop exchange between states, as well as issue their own currency. Farmers of western Massachusetts were tired of the state lacking these important aspects, and rebelled despite the rebellion’s imminent downfall. Although seemingly unsuccessful, the rebellion proved the faults in the Articles of Confederation. Civic virtue, which was supposed to drive the new nation, was insufficient. Finally, the split between the Articles of Confederation and the states directly influenced the split in political parties. While the Federalists believed the strong central government would help secure

The Articles of Confederation proved to be a weak form of government. Because of this, farmers in the North rebelled against states and because of weak tax collections and debts. This became known as Shays’ Rebellion. Shays’ Rebellion showed the government officials how weak the Articles of Confederation really were, and in agreement people felt that they needed a strong central government. John Jay wrote, “That we shall recover, and things again go well, I have no doubt….” (Document 6) Therefore, because of the weak Articles of Confederation, which led to Shays’ Rebellion, the government was eventually changed to the Constitutional Convention that also eventually led to the current Constitution of the United

The last major problem in the Articles of Confederation was the fact that the government couldn’t force people to become soldiers, according to playcard #4. People could only volunteer to become soldiers which led to them not having enough soldiers. If the country for any reason didn’t have a lot of soldiers and neighboring countries found out it could lead to problems. Not having enough soldiers left America very vulnerable to attacking countries. This means they could very easily be taken over, but they did have allied countries that could help them but it wasn’t guaranteed safety for

Throughout the history of the United States there have been many changes in government, none however have been as drastic as the change that happened after the Shay’s rebellion. The United States’ government was just being born after victory over Great Britain in the Revolutionary War. The American people were extremely wary of any type of strong central power resembling a king. In 1787 Daniel Shays led a rebellion of 1,500 troops in an assault on the federal armory attempting to capture military stores housed there.

The Articles of Confederation describes how “Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every Power, Jurisdiction and right” (Articles of Confederation stated, Art. II). Due to the fear of tyranny, the articles of Confederation were written in such a way that the states were given all the power and freedom they wanted. This was problematic because the national government had little to no power to do things they needed to get done, such as protect people in the event of a rebellion, in this case-Shays rebellion. In the text The Logic of American Politics, it stated “...Shays planned an assault on a government arsenal... delegates from Massachusetts appealed to the national government to send funds and troops.

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.

The Founding Fathers of the Articles of Confederation consisted of 13 separate States. They were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The articles were drafted on November 15, 1777 and were later revised on March 1, 1781. During this time the states ran into a large number of problems, one being it was up to the states to enforce taxes on the public and only a small portion of that went back to the federal government. The Articles also left the states with no clear power to a central government. The unset of the shays’ rebellion on August 29, 1786 was a clear indicator of the lack of power between the states and the government. Daniel Shays’ and about four thousand rebels led the Shays’ Rebellion in Massachusetts. The rebellion was caused by financial difficulties and harsh government policies to fix these post-war debts. The protestors shut down county courts and stopped judicial hearings

They did not trust strong governments, so the central government very little power (Murphy). There was no court system given to the national government so the states were in charge of it all, which meant complaints could not be filed against them (Brackemyre). One of the only powers the national government had was to declare war but they were not allowed to raise an army to fight it and it lacked a chief executive to conduct foreign affairs. The United States also had an ineffective legislative under the Articles of Confederation. Amendments that they wanted to be passed needed to be vote on unanimously and there had to be a nine out of thirteen vote to pass a law (Kelly). Each state also had only one despite their population. Under the Articles, the government did not have a stable economic system, lacked key central leadership and had an inefficient legislature.

The nation fell into a recession after the Revolutionary War and the disastrous financial situation allowed by the Articles only made matters worse. The problems with the Articles became undeniable in 1786 when Daniel Shay, a Massachusetts farmer and retired captain in the Continental Army, led his fellow farmers in resistance against farm foreclosures. He led armed bands of these men against the courts of western Massachusetts in an effort to force a closure of the court system (Text, 110). The rebellion was defeated by January of the following year but it was clear that change was needed.