2. 1783
Demand for farm
products drop
Prices Fall
Veterans had been
discharged with
certificates instead of
cash
They were unable to pay debts accumulated during
the Revolution
3. Merchants also had large debts
British creditors demanded
payment for past exports
Merchants demanded
repayment of loans in hard
currency
Farmers did not have enough
cash to pay their debts
Debtors were imprisoned
4. Massachusetts legislature
raised taxes to pay off
their large Revolutionary
war debt
Taxes on land rose more
than 60% between 1783
and 1786
2/3 of taxes was on land;
1/3 on wealth
Taxes had to be paid in hard
currency
5. Unable to pay their taxes and mortgages, farmers were
loosing their economic freedom as their land was seized.
4,000 lawsuits for debt were filed in just one county in 1785
6. “I have been greatly abused, have been obliged to do
more than my part in the war; been loaded with class
rate, town rates, province rates, Continental rates
and all rates. [of taxation].. been pulled and hauled
by sheriffs, constables and collectors, and had my
cattle sold for less than they were worth. .. . The
great men are going to get all we have and I think it is
time for us to rise and put a stop to it, and have no
more courts, nor sheriffs, nor collectors nor
lawyers. . . .
-Plough Jogger, Massachusetts farmer
8. In the summer of 1785 farmers met in county
conventions to petition the government. They
requested that the state
1. Revise the tax system, shifting the
burden from land to wealth
2. Cut taxes
3. Reduce the salaries of state officials
4. Put a delay on payment of debts
5. Issue paper money and accept it for
payment of debts and taxes
6. Accept payment in farm goods
rather than coin.
9. Merchants opposed
the issue of paper
money because it
would cause
inflation
The majority of
legislators were from
eastern cities.
Farmers petitions
were ignored
Only two years after the end of the Revolution,
farmers saw their government as unresponsive to the
needs and demands of citizens
10. Beginning in August
of 1786 farmers
banded together. They
called themselves
Regulators and
prevented courts
from opening in order
to prevent
foreclosures.
11. One of the leaders, Luke Day, had been locked up in
debtors prison the previous summer.
Another, Job Shattuck sent a message to the judge: “The
voice of the People of this county is such that the court
shall not enter the courthouse until such time as the People
shall have redress of the grievances they labor under at the
present.”
12. Hoping to put down the
rebellion, the
Massachusetts
legislature passed, and
Governor James
Bowdoin signed, the
Militia Act, declaring
that the Regulators
were in a state of war.
13. They also passed The
Riot Act which defined
treason as being in a
group of twelve or more
armed men.
And they suspended the
right of habeas corpus !
14. By December 1786 the
leader for whom the
rebellion is named, Daniel
Shays emerged.
15. Farmer rebellions spread
throughout New England.
Nearly 9,000 militants were
involved.
In New Hampshire men
surrounded the legislature in
Exeter, asking that taxes be
returned and paper money
issued.
16. In Rhode Island debtors
took over the
legislature and were
issuing paper money.
17. They raised an army of 4, 00 men. One hundred
4
and twenty-nine Boston businessmen contributed
the money to equip the army and go after the men
they called “insurgents”
18. The army was led
by General
Benjamin Lincoln,
veteran of the
Revolution and
friend of George
Washington
20. What happens to these men?
Being pursued as traitors, are they
captured
and hanged?
21. Are their efforts futile?
Do any of the Revolutionary leaders for
whom they fought see them as patriots?
22. What are the results of Shays’ Rebellion?
Are there heroes and villains in this story?
Who was right?
Are the farmers fighting for the principles
of the American Revolution or are they
threatening the liberty gained by that
revolution?
23. Why is this episode in American History worth
our attention?
If you were alive in 1787 and did not know
that the five year old United States would
survive, would you be worried about Shays’
Rebellion?
