Causes Of Shay's Rebellion

In the book “Shays’ Rebellion: Authority and Distress in Post-revolutionary America”, Sean Condon shows us his outlook on how he saw post-revolutionary America to be within the late 1770’s and 1780’s. This book was released in 2015 by John Hopkins University Press, and was also made in a continuing book series by Peter Charles Hoffer and Willamjames Hull Hofer called Witness to History. The story takes us "Throughout the late summer and fall of 1786, farmers in central and western Massachusetts organized themselves into armed groups to protest against established authority and aggressive creditors. Calling themselves "regulators" or the "voice of the people.”” [1] Condon succeeds by prosing an appealing idea in an upfront style that shapes

By 1750, strains between Native Americans and colonists were still existing, leading to growing rebellious groups. In the backcountry, frontiersmen showed their frustration and opinions through bloody mutinies and rebellions. By joining together, they were able to make a point to their fellow peers and government officials. The March of Paxton Boys & Regulator Movement were both colonial uprisings, in an attempt to reform or dislodge the government and some of its officials. Contrariwise, Shay’s Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion were both protests against some form of the economy; yet all were very dangerous acts of violence in colonial America.

(5) In Massachusetts, Daniel Shay led many farmers who were in debt to the courthouse to protest. Many of these farmers had fought in the war and when they came back they were in debt from all the taxes. This was later known as Shay’s Rebellion and since these farmers were in almost every state, state officials were afraid that this uprising would spread. Because of Shay’s Rebellion, the officials wanted to preclude further rebellion from occurring throughout the states. For if it did up rise, they knew their government would look even more unstable from other countries point of view. George Washington’s repartee was that their enemies would be happy to see that they were not able to govern themselves.

Another issue that for the opposition was the issue of standing armies which were a symbol of repression in the newly freed colonies. Britain itself had a large standing army which used fear mongering to silence the American patriots and now the Federalists were calling for a standing army? As earlier the major issue with the Articles of Confederation in the Federalist view was the loose patchwork of state militias and military issues. Shay’s rebellion had shown a major flaw in the Articles which state-funded militias dealt with their own issues. For Rutland, the argument against a large federally funded military was the issue as they had just declared independence from a country with a large standing army and the large army would thus

Many farmers were angered, but had faith in their new government. According to William Manning, who lived during the Rebellion, “…the people were driven to the greatest extremity. Many counties took to conventions remonstrances, and petitions to a court where they were not half represented” (Manning). For four years, counties from all over the state sent polite petitions to the government stating that the rural economy was in atrocious shape and asking for the government to give them some relief, all of which the government ignored (Smith). As the Massachusetts government continued to ignore their petitions, many farmers started to see similarities between how they were being treated by their new government and how the had been treated by Great Britain. Finally after four years in 1786, when the legislature ignored the petitions once again people in communities like Pelham had been patient long enough. They felt it was time for action and turned to the method that had worked just a few short years ago.

There were various reasons for the populaces' defiance. The Industrial Revolution caused many economic challenges to both the rulers and the people with rapid urbanization and employment challenges to the artisan class. The population had doubled which had left everyone in a food shortage. This agricultural emergency occurred especially in Ireland which lead to an amplitude of Irish migrating to America. There was substandard harvests that raised food-prices 60%; 135% in a single year in Ireland. The financial phenomenon in the coal, iron, and railroad industries were downsizing markets. The soaring fees with decreased salaries produced agonizing impoverishment for the working classes(urban and agricultural). The middle class began to deteriorate likewise; which is when

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

The influence of political factors and change cannot be ignored when weighing up the most significant cause of rebellion throughout the Tudor period. Both in England and Ireland, political unrest was common among all of the Tudor Monarchs meaning it was a consistent factor in all rebellions across the era. The main problems came from self-serving greed, with plans to overthrow the Monarchs in order to position someone who would be in their favour or get rid of corrupt advisors in order to attain more political influence.

Eight years of war was not enough for the so called "Regulators," and recently, these organized rebels mobbed courthouses in Northampton, Great Barrington, & Worcester. Farmers led by Daniel Shays, known by his great military conduct and being honored with the Marc Lafayette, were in search for the justice they fought for during the Revolutionary War.

Countless social and economical problems arise throughout 1676 in Virginia. Farmer Nathaniel Bacon promoted concerns about the numerous Indian assaults and the necessity for land; farmers needed economic independence as well as former indentured servants. This revolution was well-known as “Bacon’s Rebellion”. After numerous unsuccessful attempts to fight with the local government, directed by Royal Governor William Berkeley, to strike back against the Indians, Nathaniel Bacon led his revolution by accusing Berkeley and his associates for wrongdoing that went in opposition to the consent of its people. In return, Berkeley addressed Bacon’s objections, by doing an effort to justify his actions and turn down his demands.

Bacon’s rebellion was the first rebellion in the American colonies. Historians have long disputed weather bacon’s rebellion was a rebellion that sought liberty or if it was merely driven by the ambition and greed of Bacon himself. After careful consideration, it seems that Bacon’s rebellion seems to be more about two men’s need for power rather than an honorable rebellion seeking to restore justice within the colonies. Bacon didn’t care about the needs of the poor whites but sought the same power as the elites and those at the house of Burgess. Despite his misguided intentions,

7. The causes of the peasants’ uprising known as the Great Fear of 1789 was the peasants impatience and want to take matters into their own hands because they were furious with being forced to deal with the most of the taxation, the church tithes, and the nobles abusing their privileges effecting their lives. The cause that pushed them over the edge to begin the uprisings was the rise in the price of bread. The outcomes of the uprising were the destroying of feudal documents, enclosed lands raided, and most importantly the Nation Assembly having no choice but to issue a decree on August 4, 1789 that abolished all noble privileges including the hunting rights, the fees for legal cases judged in a lord’s court, forcing peasants to work on roads, along with the abolishment of tithes.

Disagreements against the burdens of lordship played a prominent part in the unrest that the peasants were experiencing. The high labor services, rents, dues, fees, tithes, limited access to common resources, and serfdom eventually lit a fire in the communities that grew large enough to inspire the rebellion. The peasants were getting ready to attack the city of Bruchsal when officials heard of the plans and stopped the incident before it happened. Confessions were heard from several members, which were recorded by a scribe. They said that the primary reason for their involvement into this association of the Bundschuh was their desire to get rid of every remaining yoke of servitude to the lords and, following the example of the Swiss, to gain their liberty through the use of arms (Baylor 35). The primary source gives a great indication that the peasant rebellion groups did not solely want to get rid of the problems they were having, but they wanted to do so in a specifically violent manner. Long-simmering conflicts in the small communities added to the rebellion as well. There were many political and religious tensions between the peasants and the officials that also helped to light the fire for the

Dodds (2015) pointed out another resentment of commons which was aimed at landlords. It is shown that people in upland regions held antipathy to landlords (Dodds, 2015). The rebels accused landlords of imposing immense gressums and entry fines upon them (Bush 2009, p.191). Regions where practised the custom of border service are the regions where agrarian grievance were the most important (Bush,2009). Reid (1921)suggested also the rapid rise of prices, especially rents and fines led to people's grievances. According to Hoyle (2001), in northern uplands, where one of the revolts of October risings took place was because of agrarian discontent which contained resentment towards tenure, fines, and tithes. Thus, it could be argued that economic motivation also played its role in this rising.