What Were The Causes Of Shays Rebellion Essay

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

Daniel Shays was a former officer in the Continental Army (Schultz, 2009). After the war, the economy took a turn for the worse, especially the farmers. The farmers’ income had fallen dramatically due and they were at risk of losing their farms, as well as going to jail for failure to pay their debts. In Massachusetts, a tax increase caused additional worries for the farmers. Some small towns in Massachusetts pleaded with the assembly regarding the taxes and lawsuits. However, their request were declined resulting in protests from the people which resulted in Shays Rebellion. He led a group of 1200 male protestors to the federal arsenal anticipating seizing control and cause the government to address the debt issues.

I believe Jefferson would likely support modern day protests because of his letter about Shay’s rebellion and the evidence found from the Declaration of Independence. For example, in his letter about Shay’s rebellion, an example of the text is, “And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let the people take arms. The remedy is to present them with the facts, pardon and pacify them.” According to the text, it shows that in order to know if the country’s rules are working, they must be notified by their people. This shows that Jefferson believes that the people should protest to show their perspective on the laws set upon them. To add on, another

During the American Revolution, The British and the American colonists had many difficulties and challenges to overcome. Both sides had great disadvantages and advantages, but the in the end the colonists had the most advantages and won their independence from the British. Some of the most important reasons the colonists won was that they were fighting on their own continent and knew the land better than the British, they received help from other European countries such as France and they had a well-experienced General; George Washington.

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

The actions of Shay’s Rebellion did not go too far. Many farmers in Western Massachusetts were previously soldiers in the Continental Army. These farmers were now being met with unfair demands from Massachusetts merchants. When they could not live up to the demands, their land and possessions were taken and they could be thrown in jail. Many farmers such as Daniel Shay were previous members on the Continental Army, in which they received little pay for their contributions.

While there are numerous contributing factors to America’s success in achieving independence, the most critical factor can be attributed to the series of British mistakes throughout the conflict. Prior to the onset of the Revolutionary War, the British government faced serious challenges, both politically and fiscally. The conclusion of the French and Indian War coupled with the fighting in Europe, India and the West Indies, left Britain with considerable debt and with few to little allies. The British government saw America as a way

Recently, something has been going on, Shays’ Rebellion. To those who don’t know what it is, it is a series of protests against tax collections and judgments for debt. Named after and led by Daniel Shays, these protests have been going on for a while. About two months, to be exact. All about the states, from New Hampshire to South Carolina, farmers were taking up arms in protest. However, in Massachusetts, the rebellion was the most serious, because farmers were threatened with the loss of their farms due to high taxes, bad harvests, and economic depression. As the recession deepened, communities throughout Massachusetts petitioned the State legislature for fiscal relief. Thousands marched to shut down courts they believed betrayed the principles

To illustrate, Shay’s Rebellion was nothing like a small argument, if fact it was a riot. Shay’s Rebellion was an event were farmers who are mostly veterans were “fighting for their rights” and their complaints were from the taxes the government charges them. Their belief was that they shouldn’t pay taxes and some took the decision to not pay them. Of course the government acted and so they put farmers who did not pay their taxes in jail. The farmers took these decisions too seriously and their reactions were unacceptable. Although farmers believed that the government was unfair in Shay’s Rebellion, nevertheless farmers in this time were reckless rebels because they destroyed legal systems that cause them to take matters in their own hands, were discourteous for being wasteful, and also for being unfair to themselves.

At the peak of Britain's prominence, it was said that the sun never sets on the British Empire. Many were enthralled under its wing of mighty protection and dare a country stand up to Britain and face the consequences. In 1755 the last of the great conflicts between the Britain and France broke out. Although initially proving its superiority, one of the main facets of the British Empire headed for a major transformation. So that is why I say the very of the British triumph over France in the French and Indian War opened the door to the American Revolution.

“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 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 Revolutionary War was fought by two sides, those being the British and the American colonists, fighting for whether the colonies would remain under British rule, or become their own independent country, and they both had advantages and disadvantages over the other. The Americans were eventually victorious, forming what is known today as the United States of America. It will be discussed in this essay just what advantages and disadvantages each side had, and how these played into the eventual outcome of victory for the colonists.

The irregular and disorganized British rule of the American colonies in the previous years led to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. Most Americans did not originally want to separate from mother England. They wanted to stay loyal to the crown. England’s unwillingness to compromise, mismanagement of the colonies, heavy taxation of the colonists that violated their rights, the distractions of foreign affairs and politics in England and the strict trading policies that England tried to enforce together made the revolution inevitable. The British were definitely expected to win the dispute because they significantly over powered the Colonists in most areas. They had more money, weapons, people, etc. However the American’s prevailed with

How did the colonists manage to triumph in their battle for independence despite Great Britain’s military might? If any of these factors had been different, how might it have affected the outcome of the war?