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Shays' Rebellion was a rebellion in central and western Massachusetts (mainly Springfield) from 1786 to 1787. The rebellion is named after Daniel Shays, a veteran of the American Revolution who led the rebels, also known as "Shaysites" or "Regulators". Most of the Shaysites were poor farmers angered by their debt and taxes. They could not pay their taxes, and they were afraid of going to jail or having their homes taken away from them.
They attempted to stop the courts from taking property from indebted farmers by forcing the closure of courts in western Massachusetts. The participants in Shays' Rebellion believed they were acting in the spirit of the Revolution and modeled their tactics after the crowd activities of the 1760s and 1770s, using "liberty poles" and "liberty trees" to symbolize their cause.
Shays' Rebellion started on August 29, 1786, and by January 1787, over 1000 Shaysites had been arrested. A militia that had been raised as a private army defeated an attack on the federal Springfield Armory by the main Shaysite force on February 3, 1787. Shays' Rebellion produced fears that the Revolution’s democratic impulse had gotten out of hand. Over time, the farmers grew into armies, controlled by Daniel Shays and his men, as they tried to take back their rights.
This monument marks the spot of the final battle of Shays' Rebellion, in Sheffield, Massachusetts.
Populist Governor John Hancock refused to crack down on tax delinquencies, and accepted devalued paper currency for debts.
Governor James Bowdoin instituted a heavy tax burden and stepped up collection of back taxes.
Militia general William Shepard defended the Springfield Armory against rebel action.
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General Benjamin Lincoln, portrait by Henry Sargent
The Springfield Armory (building pictured is from the 19th century) was the first major target of the rebellion.
1856 depiction of the 1787 Constitutional Convention by Junius Brutus Stearns
Elbridge Gerry (1861 portrait by James Bogle) was opposed to the Constitution as drafted, although his reasons for doing so were not strongly influenced by the rebellion.
