Shays' Rebellion

Shays’ Rebellion was an uprising in western Massachusetts in 1786 and 1787 caused by excessive land taxation, high legal costs, and economic depression following the American Revolution. This rebellion was only one of many protests that took place during this period. The insurgents, who were mainly poor farmers threatened with loss of their property and imprisonment for debt, were headed by Daniel Shays, a Pelham resident and former captain in the American Revolution army. These "Shaysites" or "Regulators" demanded protective legislation, the abolition of the court of common pleas, and a radical reduction of taxes.

In 1786, armed mobs prevented the meetings of courts at Northampton, Worcester, Great Barrington, and Concord; and Shays, with his followers, broke up a session of the state supreme court in Springfield. On January 25, 1787, Shays and his men marched into Springfield to seize the federal arsenal, but they were repulsed by a force of militia under General Benjamin Lincoln and Major General William Shepard. Shays and a group of rebels fled north toward Amherst and Pelham, then Petersham, where they were finally defeated in early February. Conkey's tavern in Pelham served as Shays' headquarters during his retreat from Springfield. It was located only a half mile from Shays' residence and it is supposed that this is the location in which Shays wrote letters to the pursuing General Lincoln.

Another group of Regulators fled west and attacked several locations in Berkshire County. That group was defeated February 27 in Sheffield, Mass. Read a letter written to Major General William Shepard describing an attack by Regulators in Stockbridge, MA and the subsequent, final capture by state militia. Most of the men were pardoned later in the year; Shays, condemned to death, escaped to Vermont and was pardoned a year later.

Shays' Rebellion and the other protests forced the leaders and politicians of the young nation to take note. The existing Articles of Confederation, which provided for the basic laws of the nation, were not an effective means of governing. The protests helped push the nation's leaders closer to formulating and ratifying the Constitution of the United States.

Read more about Shays' Rebellion at "From Revolution to Constitution," developed by Springfield Technical Community College. Also view a timeline of events from 1774-1789.

Bibliography

Carpenter, Edward Wilton and Charles Frederick Morehouse. History of the Town of Amherst, Massachusetts. Amherst, Mass.: Press of Carpenter & Morehouse, 1896. 132-137. Available at the Jones Library or on GoogleBooks.

"From Revolution to Constitution". Springfield Technical Community College, 2009. http://www.shaysrebellion.stcc.edu