Shays' Rebellion
“In the first years of peacetime, following the Revolutionary War, the future of both the agrarian and commercial society appeared threatened by a strangling chain of debt which aggravated the depressed economy of the postwar years”.1 This poor economy affected almost everyone in New England especially the farmers. For years these farmers, or yeomen as they were commonly called, had been used to growing just enough for what they needed and grew little in surplus. As one farmer explained “ My farm provides me and my family with a good living. Nothing we wear, eat, or drink was purchased, because my farm provides it all.”2 The only problem with this way of life is that with no surplus there was no way to make enough money to pay excessive debts. For example, since farmer possessed little money the merchants offered the articles they needed on short-term credit and accepted any surplus farm goods on a seasonal basis for payment. However if the farmer experienced a poor crop, shopkeepers usually extended credit and thereby tied the farmer to their businesses on a yearly basis.3 During a credit crisis, the gradual disintegration of the traditional culture became more apparent. During hard times, mercha
nts in need of ready cash withdrew credit from their yeomen customers and called for the repayment of loans in hard cash. Such demands showed the growing power of the commercial elite.4 As one could imagine this brought much social and economic unrest to the farmers of New England. Many of the farmers in debt were dragged into court and in many cases they were put into debtors prison. Many decided to take action: The farmers waited for the legal due process as long as them could. The Legislature, also know as the General Court, took little action to address the farmers complaints. 5 “So without waiting for General Court to come back into session to work on grievances as requested, the People took matters into their own hands.”6 This is when the idea for the Rebellion is decided upon and the need for a leader was eminent. The rebels primary plan was not one to show the need for national supremacy and a new constitution. “We did not intend to destroy law, but only to reform all those laws which were oppressive” said one Shaysite farmer.16 The Importance of Shays’ Rebellion was not so much the acts of rebellion themselves but how it pointed out the weakness of the Articles of Confederation for governing the United States. In order to prevent such anarchy in the future and to strengthen the central government, the Philadelphia Convention convened to draft the Constitution in the spring of 1787, just a short time after the end of Shays’ Rebellion. For example, in the very first part of our present day Constitution called the preamble it states “ to ensure domestic tranquility”.17 This is a definite “red flag” that Shays’ Rebellion was on the minds of many delegates In conclusion, if it had not been for farmers and debtors alike we may not have the same great nation as we do today. What if all the people that were being brought to court out of outstanding debts just kept quiet and went to debtors prison? Would we have even found out that our national government was to weak to even protect us until it was to late. For example, during the time of the Civil War what strong unifying force would have kept our country together if there was no powerful central government or a Presidency position to harbor a great leader such as Abraham Lincoln. Also what about the times during the World Wars when any country could have attacked the United States and taken over. What was keeping them at bay? Probably our strong military force and ability to draft great numbers of soldiers in times of crisis. Finally, taking the ev
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Approximate Word count = 1723
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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