SHAYS’S REBELLION AND THE U.S. CONSTITUTION Essay

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.

While considering Thomas Jefferson’s and George Washington’s different point of views on the topic of Shays rebellion it becomes apparent that based on the morality on which the United state’s were founded that Thomas Jefferson does have a more agreeable topic. This is not to say that George Washington's concerns of a “snowball effect” are not warranted it is just to say that Thomas Jefferson had a better take on the situation at hand .

During the eight years under the Articles of Confederation, the national debt continued to grow. The country came up with solutions, but the states ignored them. A correspondent in the Independent Chronicle in 1787 plead, “How long are we to continue on our present in-glorious acquiescence in the shameful resistance that some of the states persist in, against federal and national measures?” (Humphrey 2003, 113). Printer Nathaniel Willis called the young country a “union in crisis” (Humprey 2003, 106). Lack of revenue and no way of forcing states to contribute was one of the major and most noted flaws in the Articles of Confederation (Henretta et al. 2010).

Shays' Rebellion was the first uprising of the new nation. The battles were fought in Massachusetts. During the time period of 1786-1787, The United States government decided to raise taxes, in order to raise capital and

In offering alternative interpretations of the origins of the Constitution, the author accomplishes his secondary purpose, to make the reader challenge what they know about the framing of the Constitution. Holton details the rebellion of the “Unruly Americans” against the state and national governments, using Adonijah Mathews as an ultimate example of the “common man.” Mathews’ views are presented in order to contrast the views of James Madison, whom it seems the author

“What stronger evidence can be given of the want of energy in our governments than these disorders [Shay’s Rebellion]? If there exists not a power to check them, what security has a man for life, liberty, or property?” In this small excerpt taken from George Washington's letter to James Madison in November 5, 1786 we can observe how the Articles of Confederation is taking a negative toll in the newly born independent country. As a result of the poorly formed government established by the Articles of Confederation, rebellion began to arise amongst the states such as Shay’s Rebellion. As seen in the excerpt, because of the states not having a greater authority to check on them, many of the states imposed unfair tariffs and laws amongst its citizens, causing disorder and conflict.

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

8. Shay’s Rebellion- farmers in the central part of Massachusetts with the leader Daniel Shays seized the armory in Springfield, Massachusetts before the state militia put down the rebellion and executed several of the conspirators. Exposed the weakness of the American government under the old “articles of confederation” added urgency to the meeting in Philadelphia to replace articles with constitution. A bunch of farmers put a threat on government. See whiskey Rebellion 1794, the government was stronger with the constitution.

With the creation of the Articles remained the lack of a strong central authority to resolve disputes between the states. To organize the states for the collective good, including the organization of a militia, was crucial to the development of the Constitutional Convention (Hamilton et al., 2008). The aftermath of Shay’s Rebellion reinforced the fears of national leaders about the dangers of ineffective state governments and of popular democracy out of control. In the climate of economic turmoil and repressions, the Philadelphian convention was conned to prescribe solutions to the Articles of Confederation. Although the initial thought was instructing delegates to propose revisions for the Articles of Confederation, instead, they wrote an entirely new constitution instead (Hamilton et al., 2008)

“I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing” (Jefferson). Thomas Jefferson wrote these words in a letter to James Madison after hearing about Shay’s Rebellion while he was a foreign diplomat in Paris. After the rebellion happened, the “Shaysites” as they were called, were labeled as traitors to their country and the democratic form of government. But were they really? Many of the men fighting in the rebellion felt that they were being oppressed just as they had been under British rule.

The founding fathers want to replace the Articles of Confederation by establishing a stronger central government to regulate under the same jurisdiction to control commerce and policies among the United States. One of the issues that occurred was the lack of protection during the Shays Rebellion in 1786. A group of poor farmers led by Daniel Shays riot against the state government’s debt and tax policies in Massachusetts. They seek a national government that limits state government authority to tax the farmers and establish a fair practice of debt collections by the elites. Moreover, the lack of consistency between states made it difficult to create fair trades among other states and another issue that arises is the value of currency.

The economic problems that led to Shay’s rebellion began with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, which ended the revolutionary war and recognized America’s independence. America’s independence came with some unforeseen complications, since America was no longer a British colony they were cut out of many British markets including the Caribbean. Also many American merchants were in debt to British creditors and the creditors demanded cash payments with short deadlines and harsh punishments. This in turn caused American merchants to demand their money back from businesses who were in debt to them. These businesses then called for farmers and smaller businesses to pay back their debts. In addition to having to pay back their mounting debt farmers also had to pay taxes that were being raised by

Another reason I believe in the actions is because the farmers were trying to fight for the right to not pay these taxes and not go to jail, leaving their families behind. On the website History.com, it states “they harassed the leading merchants, lawyers, and supporters of the state government.” This tells me that they were doing whatever it took to get the government's attention to handle the problem. Also on this website it describes how Shays’ Rebellion was crushed by the local militia. Fortunately, this problem did not threaten the stability and structure of the United States. In the article “How Shays’ Rebellion Changed America”, it claims that the rebellion pushed George Washington to become president, which was vital for the Constitution. The rebellion uprising also pushed plans for a stronger government because there were already so many problems. These plans for a stronger government led the framers to write the draft for the United States Constitution. These actions the rebellion brought actually help the Constitution come together to form a stronger national

The actions of the members of Shay’s Rebellion are justified. In the beginning, state officials seized farmers’ lands because they could not pay war debts. This was unfair, as farmers did not take part in the war at all. This ended many farmers in jail, and took away their rights as american citizens. This is what started many protests, which turned into revolt. The first action they took was forcing a courthouse to shut down so farmers couldn’t lose more land. This was definitely a reasonable response compared to what had been happening to them. After this, they proceeded to a jail in Springfield, where they freed imprisoned farmers. While it was even more rebellious than the courthouse event, it's still justified. This group of people were

In 1775, the Second Continental Congress had no presence of a formal constitutional. As a result of this, they had to first come up with a plan of government that included all of the revolutionary ideas to which they held dearly. At this time supreme authority rested within the states and as a result of the monarchy now being gone, new questions arose such as how to define citizenship, who should be given suffrage, and ultimately who should rule. This resulted in the adoption of the Articles of Confederation (Roark 198). Overall, we come to understand that the states had difficulty in defining who was meant by the term “the people” and the process of defining freedom (Roark 201). My paper