Shays' Rebellion

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Many Americans tried to return to their old lives after the Revolutionary War. It was easy for some, but it was difficult or near impossible for the others. Many farmers had a hard time reverting to their post-revolutionary ways and ordeals, and this proved challenging. Suffering from high debt, farmers in central Massachusetts and western Massachusetts tried to start over and build new lives. The government, on the other hand, did nothing to assist Americans who were trying to return to their lives from the brutality of war. Farmers were put were imprisoned by law enforcement for lack of paying off their debts. All of these issues caused a small rebellion which grew into one of the largest armed rebellions after the Revolutionary War. The leader of the Rebellion, Daniel Shays, later called his band of angry farmers Shays’ Rebellion. Shays’ Rebellion was a poorly planned and unnecessary revolt hurting the cause it meant to help.
Shays’ rebellion originated from a small group of farmers from Massachusetts fighting against high taxes. These farmers organized their resistance in ways similar to the American Revolutionary War. They called special meetings of the people to protest conditions. They even agreed on coordinated protests involving themselves and other people. The rebels closed courts by force in the fall of 1786 and liberated other imprisoned farmers who would be sympathetic to the rebels’ cause. Later on, the petty revolts flared into fully fledged revolts once the rebels came under the leadership of Daniel Shays. Shays was a general in the Continental Army that fought against the British during the American Revolutionary War; this is why the rebels had similar tactics that were used against the British. The...

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...rebels did have a few sympathizers. People like scholars and ex-Continental Army members supported or even joined the rebels themselves. The result of the rebels’ actions really showed the people who is in charge. James Bowdoin, the governor of Massachusetts at the time, opposed Daniel Shays and his rebels. He received a military force from the United States government to end the rebellion. He wiped out most of the rebels while the others scattered. While they were defeated, some rebels brought up some minor revolts that were quickly put down by local police force or military. Daniel Shays fled the scene and was later caught by military. He was granted a five year pension by the government. He served the pension in the Continental Army without getting paid. He later left the Army and became a heavy drinker. Daniel Shays died at the age of 78 in New York.

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