In American history, there were four minor rebellions that contained political, social and ideological changes in the regions in which they occurred.
The March of the Paxton Boys took place in Paxton, Pennsylvania. William Penn founded Pennsylvania as a refuge for anyone who needed it. Here, the English people and the Indians peacefully co-existed, for the most part. At one time, the Indians began to raid the city of Paxton, where a multitude of Scots-Irish lived. The Indians in Pennsylvania invaded the towns and were disturbing the peace. A group of the Scots-Irish in Paxton feared the Indians, becoming weary of even the group of friendly Conestoga Indians. Rumors spread that the Conestoga Indians were plotting against the Paxton boys, as well, and the group of men in Paxton decided to take a stand against them. The Paxton Boys marched to the land and raided the Conestoga, killing six of the Indians while the other fourteen fled to Lancaster. The government was full of Quakers, who seemed to completely neglect the problem with the Paxton boys. The government continued to take the taxes being collected and provide the Indians with what they needed. The treatment of the issue would obviously anger anyone in their path. The Pennsylvania
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government stood to the side to try and keep the peace but was actually only causing more trouble. The people in Paxton never seemed to enjoy the presence of the Indians around them. After the attack on the Conestoga Indians, the warfare continued for many years. Finally, Pontiac’s Rebellion formed to take a stand against this. The Paxton boys only fought out of fear for their lives and their homes, but they were savage with what they did. The group gained a lot of people as they marched straight for Philadelphia. Social changes were being made to the once peaceful society, whites and Indians were no longer living in harmony. Other white frontiersmen did not take justice with the people who were causing the scene, and the Paxton Boys group was faced with military violence from the government to push back the boys and try to disperse the group. The march was much different from the east, who wanted to protest this matter peacefully to get answers. The Paxton Boys showed the social diversities in the groups of people who lived there. The frontiersmen did not like the Indians, and in turn the Indians were beginning to not respect the whites very much. Along with the differences with the social classes and government, the ideals of the once peaceful state were beginning to change. William Penn designed Pennsylvania as a peaceful area, where Indians and whites could co-exist, unlike other areas of the colonies. The Paxton boys began to show that peace was no longer an option with the Indians. The rebellion eventually ended on peace, with many pamphlets on the subject instead of violence. Violence was the means of the Paxton boys, the men in Paxton were not writers. The ideals that the Paxton boys brought changed the idea that Indians could peacefully exist with the whites in Pennsylvania. The hostilities committed by the Paxton boys was an example of the extent that the people could live in the same land. It showed the differences in how people thought in different parts of Pennsylvania, some people demanding peace and the other violence for their justice. The Regulator Movement was the next rebellion to occur on the frontier. The movement included two states, North and South Carolina. The movement was meant to restore law and order in the local government, immediately including political affairs in the 1760s. People in the backcountry believed that their government was charging excessive taxes and mistreating them. These groups of regulators fought against their government, and literally against a war veteran and governor William Tryon. The government did not address the grievances of the regulators, thus causing violence among them. In 1769, the Circuit Court Act was released. The act was set to create six court districts for the backcountry. The act from the government led to disband the group of regulators in both North and South Carolina, but the government was surely involved. The movement created in North and South Carolina did not go without violence and bloodshed. A mob resorted to violence when they drug Edmund Fanning out by his heels and property of another office holder was destroyed. The group of regulators here was protesting the sheriff and court officials. The different social groups all had different opinions on their government and how they were being treated on the frontier. These regulators had to deal with governor William Tryon. When no peace was being created, the regulators took to a battle at Alamance Creek. The battle was obviously won by Tryon, who took in the leaders for execution. Tryon issued a pardon to those who swore and oath of allegiance to the royal government. This movement showed the social classes who had favor and influence in their land, and the little people on the frontier who had no say. Thus, the Regulator Movement was also exterminated. The ideals that the frontiersmen had was to change some of the aspects of the government that they were forced to live in. With most of the regulators hung or swore their oath to the royal government, the men were forced to go back to the way of life they once lived. Few of these regulators stuck to their ideals and moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Though, it was not long before Tryon’s men showed up and the regulators were forced to move farther out, not to make any more scenes. However, with the approaching American Revolution, the regulator movement would be stomped out altogether. Previous foes would put aside their different ideas and band together for a common cause: to gain their freedom from Britain. Next comes Shays Rebellion. The rebellion is given to the group of protesters in 1786 and 1787 who were against taxes and judgement for debt. Farmers in western Massachusetts wanted to protest the government when it threatened to take away their farms. A formal captain in the Continental Army, Daniel Shays, took up the lead of the rebellion. Politics were involved even before the rebellion became violent. Farmers were being placed in jail if they did not pay off their debts, on top of the extremely high taxes placed on the farmers. Some saw the rebels as heroes, while some thought of them as dangerous rebels trying to topple the republican government. Shays Rebellion dealt with the lower class farmers who did not want to pay their taxes.
The government sent militia after those who were rebelling, but they had fled to Rhode Island and Vermont. The frontier farmers were alarming politicians throughout the entire United States. The taxes placed on the farmers throughout the colonies was doing great damage to them, these farmers lost their land because of debts. The more wealthy farmers had barely any trouble, which was great for them, less so for the poor. It was time the farmers took a stand for themselves, so it seemed. Governor James Bowdoin was in charge of the armed force that squished out the rebellion. Once the rebellion was taken out, the social force was taken
down. Smaller rebellions that had the same intentions as Shays took place in states like New York and Pennsylvania. The rebellions were not as widespread as the real thing, but those rebels were shot down just like the originals were. People had originally liked governor James Bowdoin, but after he crushed the rebellion, the voters turned against him in the next election and he was thrown out of office. Shay’s rebellion showed the underlying problems of the government, what the people really thought about the taxes and debtors. National leaders felt that they needed to stop the rebellions, in which they did so successfully. The rebellion gave way to the different ideals of both the frontier farmers and the government, how differently they both thought. Shay’s Rebellion would help later on in debates on framing and ratifying the constitution, helping benefit those who had rebelled in the end.
Bacon’s Rebellion, King Phillip’s War and the Pequot War were similar in that there were conflicts with Natives over land, however they differed in the ways the wars were carried out and the results of the wars. Bacon’s rebellion was a result of the poorer classes moving west to cultivate land, however they encountered natives and the governor refused to protect them. Likewise the Pequot war was a direct effect of puritans moving westward, additionally all three wars resulted in the colonists as victors. During King Phillip’s war the natives destroyed a fifth of the towns in Masseuses and Rhode Island in contrast to the other wars where the natives did not cause as much damage to the colonists. Bacon’s Rebellion was significant because afterwards
In chapter eleven, The Age of Democratic Revolutions: The North Atlantic World “Turn Upside Down”, Wells discusses the American and French Revolutions. Both of these revolutions shook the world and turn the world around. After the Enlightenment, there were many revolutions across Europe; however, the American and French Revolution had more power in them to change the world. Because of the books, pamphlets, and sermons, the idea of rationalism moved from philosophes to many of other people. With these new ideas, the people started to believe in change which led to stress and upheaval. In America, the revolution was not like other revolutions. There was no reigns of terror, no mass deportations, or forced labor camps. However, the American
Professor Thomas Slaughter has provided a most thorough overview of the Whiskey Rebellion, which he asserts had by the time this book was conceived nearly two centuries after the episode transpired, had become a largely forgotten chapter of our nation's history since the time of the Civil War. He cites as direct evidence of this fact the almost complete absence of any mention of the event in many contemporary textbooks of the conservative era of the 1980's, which this reviewer can attest to as well, having been a high school student in the late 1970's, who never heard of the Whiskey Rebellion until years later. Building off of his own dissertation on the topic, the author convincingly shows that the Whiskey Rebellion was in fact an event of tremendous importance for the future of the fledgling United States of America, which was spawned by the head-long collision of a variety of far-reaching forces and factors in the still quite primitive environs of western Pennsylvania that summer and fall. Slaughter contends that one must place the frontier at the center of the great political debates of the era and fully explore the ideological, social, political, and personal contexts surrounding the episode in order to fully understand the importance of its place in American history. In doing so the author has produced a very readable work that may be enjoyed by casual readers, who will likely find the individual vignettes which open each chapter particularly fascinating, and a highly useful basis of further research by future scholars into the importance of the frontier region as it relates to events on a national scale in those early days of the republic.
At the beginning of the war, everything was in array and no one could agree on anything, disorganization and uncertainty overwhelmed everyone. Organizations that were meant to be unifying factors for the colonists, like the Continental Congress, were little more than debating clubs that had to work for weeks before they could come to a decision. As time went on and the Tea Act was put into place the rage of the people made them grow closer. By the eve of the American Revolution, Parliament’s aggression towards the colonists had drawn a distinction between the colonist’s political, economic, and social ideas and those of the British. Colonists had embraced a new identity that helped fuel their resistance against Britain (American Identity and
Evaluate the relative importance of the following as factors prompting Americans to rebel in 1776:
Gary B. Nash argues that the American Revolution portrayed “radicalism” in the sense on how the American colonies and its protesters wanted to accommodate their own government. Generally what Gary B. Nash is trying to inform the reader is to discuss the different conditions made by the real people who were actually fighting for their freedom. In his argument he makes it clear that throughout the revolution people showed “radicalism” in the result of extreme riots against the Stamp Act merchants, but as well against the British policies that were implemented. He discusses the urgency of the Americans when it came to declaring their issues against the British on how many slaves became militants and went up against their masters in the fight for a proclamation to free themselves from slavery. But he slowly emerges into the argument on how colonists felt under the
They decided to travel there. Daniel brought 5 men with him to hunt and collect skins. One day while hunting, Daniel and his brother-in-law were captured by Indians. They told them to leave Kentucky and never come back. They weren’t scared, but the other 4 men were, so they went back to Pennsylvania.
Shay's Rebellion was the first armed uprising of the new nation. It was caused by the absence of debt relief legislation in Massachusetts. When the Revolution ended, merchants and creditors lobbied for high taxes and against paper money. They were successful. These procreditor polices underminded farmers' finances. The legislation, including foreclosure laws, were extremely taxing to farmers and caused many to go into great debt. Many farmers were dragged to court where they faced high legal fees and threats of imprisonment because of their debt. In 1786, farmers in Massachusetts attended extralegal meetings where they protested against high taxes and aggressive eastern creditors. Bands of angry farmers joined together to close law courts with force and freed debtors and fellow protesters from jail. Resistance to the legislation climbed to a full-scale revolt. John Adams, president at the time, answered with the Riot Act, which outlawed illegal assemblies. The rebellion was suppressed by military force. The rebellion prompted leaders with national perspective to redouble their efforts and create a stronger central government.
The most important issue prompting Americans to rebel in 1776 is clearly parliamentary taxation. The first time a Parliamentary imposed tax threatened the livelihood of the colonies was in 1733 with the Molasses Act, stemmed from the loss of profit for the British West Indies under the Navigation Act. However, this act was avoidable and rarely paid. Following the long and harrowing French and Indian War, Britain was deep in debt and George Grenville was appointed British Chancellor. He was determined to pay off the debt by brutally taxing the colonies. He not only reinforced the ignored Navigation Acts, but he placed the new Sugar Act which was similar to the Molasses Act which put a tax on rum and molasses imported from West Indies, but this Act would be enforced. Needless to say, the colonists were not used to this intrusion of Parliament and felt that it was wrong because there were no members in Parliament to represent the colonies. They felt it was a direct violation of their civil liberties and the first whiff of resentment was beginning to spawn. Next was the Currency Act which disregarded the colonies paper money, forcing the colonist to pay in only silver and sending their economy into chaos. Perhaps the most important and controversial acts were the Stamps Acts that placed a tax on legal documents, almanacs, newspaper, pamphlets, playing cards and dice.
During the years of 1675 and 1676 the North American colonies experienced conflicts that shaped the dynamics of their colonial life. King Phillip's War would effectively end relations between the New England colonists and the Indians. Also, the rebellion in Virginia led by Nathaniel Bacon stressed the growing discontent of poor frontier farmers for British rule. The consequences of these two events clearly had an impact on different levels that would extend well beyond their time. Therefore, the years 1675 and 1676 played a very significant role in the Northern American colonies.
Slaughter I finally understand the meaning of the rebellion. Even though it was just briefly mention in our history book America, Past and Present Vol 1- by Divine, Robert A. in about half a page about the people from western Pennsylvanians protested the tax on Whiskey in in 1794 basically the end of the rebellion. (170) This revolution is way more than that, it created a precedent for future generations that when the people is not okay with laws created by government they can come together and protest against it. A few years later we see that this was the case on the civil war were the south was not happy with the government abolition of slavery and they came together an acted against the president and the federal government. In my case I am a true believer that we must learn from the past to be able to enjoy a better
They were the people who actively participated and sacrificed their lives. Therefore the side they chose to fight on was heavily influenced by their “local interests, grudges, and unfulfilled yearnings [Page 87].”In summary, poor farmers, wanted political rights and land. For slaves they yearned for freedom. Women wanted to have the same rights as men. Native Americans wanted the colonists to stop encroaching on their land. Many of these desires coincided while other clashed. Therein lay the chaos that drove the American Revolution. While many of the people did not succeed the ideas they fought for became deeply embedded into
After settlements were established, farmers opposed the government. The farmers united to form their opposing union that would lead their opposing movement and solve their common problems that they had with economic distress and railroads. The grange and farmers´ alliances surged with the quest to get the government to support them. The rise of the populist party caused a scare and panic to other government groups, but it didn´t last, the populist party collapsed.
In the 1760s, Boston was full of disorder. With each new British law came protest from American colonists. The people of Boston believed that Britain did not have the right to tax them because they did not elect their representatives in Parliament. Only the Massachusetts Assembly, whose members were elected every year, had the right to tax its citizens. The Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Acts of 1767 led to boycotts and unrest, steered by a group known as the Sons of Liberty. As a result, the British government sent troops to Boston to keep order. Instead of staying in a fort on an island in the Boston harbor, the British troops stayed on the commons and were living in buildings in the middle of town. The British troops’ presence in Boston was not welcome and Bostonians viewed them as a threat. Because they did not like the English army in their city, fights between the American colonists and the British troops were common.
The American Revolution marked the divorce of the British Empire and its one of the most valued colonies. Behind the independence that America had fought so hard for, there emerged a diverging society that was eager to embrace new doctrines. The ideals in the revolution that motivated the people to fight for freedom continued to influence American society well beyond the colonial period. For example, the ideas borrowed from John Locke about the natural rights of man was extended in an unsuccessful effort to include women and slaves. The creation of state governments and the search for a national government were the first steps that Americans took to experiment with their own system. Expansion, postwar depression as well as the new distribution of land were all evidence that pointed to the gradual maturing of the economic system. Although America was fast on its way to becoming a strong and powerful nation, the underlying issues brought about by the Revolution remained an important part in the social, political and economical developments that in some instances contradicted revolutionary principles in the period from 1775-1800.