Shays’s Rebellion (1786–1787)
Shays’s Rebellion, which Thomas Jefferson would later characterize as only “a little rebellion,” was an armed revolt led by Daniel Shays that began in central and western Massachusetts in 1786–1787. The significance of Shays’s Rebellion was that it tested the institutions of the fledgling United States, which had just won the Revolutionary War and, under the Articles of Confederation, was struggling to survive.
The United States emerged from the war in debt, which aggravated an economic depression. Many of the nation’s farmers were veterans of the war with empty pockets. Adding to their frustration were heavy taxes on land, and many were hauled into debtors’ court and threatened with prison. State governments were unable to meet the financial crisis, so many farmers concluded that the only course of action open to them was rebellion. One of these farmers was Daniel Shays, who in time became the leader of an “army” of up to nine thousand rebellious and...
