History
Fact-checked

At WiseGEEK, we're committed to delivering accurate, trustworthy information. Our expert-authored content is rigorously fact-checked and sourced from credible authorities. Discover how we uphold the highest standards in providing you with reliable knowledge.

Learn more...

What Was Shays' Rebellion?

Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen

War causes debt in most cases, and after the American Revolutionary War, the new United States had to come up with a way to pay their debts to European countries. One decision that left many people in significant trouble was to increase land taxes on farmers, and this created tremendous difficulties, especially between farmers and merchants. There was inequity between the taxes farmers had to pay and the taxes merchants paid. Smaller farmers in the Eastern states couldn’t meet their debts, leading to uprisings like the Shays' Rebellion.

Many of the people in significant financial trouble were men who had served in the army during the Revolutionary War. Facing mounting debt, the potential for losing everything they had or even imprisonment for debt, they asked the Massachusetts legislature for debt relief. This was not granted, and instead great poverty resulted. Men like Daniel Shays organized as a result, and one action taken in 1786 was to march on debtor’s courts and demand they stop business.

Shays and his forces attacked an armory in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1787.
Shays and his forces attacked an armory in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1787.

In 1787 what is often called Shays' Rebellion took place. Shays and his forces, who sometimes called themselves Shaysites and numbered about 1000-1500, attacked an armory in Springfield, Massachusetts. Actually, the term Shays' Rebellion applied to this last act is inaccurate. All of Shays’ actions between 1786 and 1787 are considered the Shays' Rebellion.

General Benjamin Lincoln governed a militia that defended the attack on the Springfield Armory by Shays and his men.
General Benjamin Lincoln governed a militia that defended the attack on the Springfield Armory by Shays and his men.

What occurred in the attack on the Springfield Armory was not successful for Shays or his men. A militia that was governed by General Benjamin Lincoln was able to defend the armory and scattered most of Shays’ men. Two men were hanged and Shays was sentenced to death, but the rebellion had long-lasting effects. First, the federal government recognized that Shays had a legitimate complaint and within a year of the end of Shays' Rebellion they had pardoned most men involved, including Shays.

Daniel Shays' struggle and death led the founding fathers to provide for greater fairness in the Constitution.
Daniel Shays' struggle and death led the founding fathers to provide for greater fairness in the Constitution.

The other reason that Shays' Rebellion is frequently cited as more than a footnote in American history is because it helped to shape the writing of the US Constitution. In 1786 and 1787, the government was still using the Articles of Confederation as its main laws. Yet the Articles of Confederation were in part responsible for the drastic poverty and the poor handling of that poverty of people like Daniel Shays. One of the things most specific in these articles was the limit of power in the central government. Greater power might have been able to address some of the issues for which Shays and his men fought.

Help did not come soon enough for Daniel Shays and for many men of the Shays' Rebellion. Though the Massachusetts legislature was able to change some things the following year to help offer some debt relief to farmers, people like Daniel Shays died without such assistance. Shays’ plight and that of many farmers did make a strong impression on the founding fathers of the US and ultimately helped to create greater fairness in the US Constitution.

Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen

Tricia has a Literature degree from Sonoma State University and has been a frequent WiseGEEK contributor for many years. She is especially passionate about reading and writing, although her other interests include medicine, art, film, history, politics, ethics, and religion. Tricia lives in Northern California and is currently working on her first novel.

Learn more...
Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen

Tricia has a Literature degree from Sonoma State University and has been a frequent WiseGEEK contributor for many years. She is especially passionate about reading and writing, although her other interests include medicine, art, film, history, politics, ethics, and religion. Tricia lives in Northern California and is currently working on her first novel.

Learn more...

Discussion Comments

aaaCookie

@helene55, it is also similar to the Boston Tea Party earlier in American history and the Gunpowder Plot in England in 1605. America and its settlers have a long history of civil disobedience.

helene55

Daniel Shays' rebellion (also called Shay's rebellion, as there is some confusion about how his name was correctly spelled) is an example of one of many actions in US history that shows the importance of the power of the people in government. Unfortunately, like John Brown's rebellion later in response to slavery, and Nat Turner's rebellion and other slave rebellions, it shows that these rebellious acts are not always totally well-planned or successful for the rebels themselves.

Post your comments
Login:
Forgot password?
Register:
    • Shays and his forces attacked an armory in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1787.
      By: Floki Fotos
      Shays and his forces attacked an armory in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1787.
    • General Benjamin Lincoln governed a militia that defended the attack on the Springfield Armory by Shays and his men.
      By: Georgios Kollidas
      General Benjamin Lincoln governed a militia that defended the attack on the Springfield Armory by Shays and his men.
    • Daniel Shays' struggle and death led the founding fathers to provide for greater fairness in the Constitution.
      By: trekandshoot
      Daniel Shays' struggle and death led the founding fathers to provide for greater fairness in the Constitution.