SHAYS’S REBELLION AND THE U.S. CONSTITUTION Essay -- Essays Papers

SHAYS’S REBELLION AND THE U.S. CONSTITUTION Introduction Although not widely known, Shays’s Rebellion greatly impacted the debate on sovereignty and led many to conclude that the only possible solution was the centralization of power in a national authority. Historian John Garraty notes, â€Å"The lessons became plain: Liberty must not become an excuse for license; and therefore greater authority must be vested in the central government.†[1] While this effect was not the â€Å"rebels’† intended goal, Shays’s Rebellion helped shape the construction of the U.S. Constitution and the American political thought that has since followed. An analysis of both the causes and effects of Shays’s Rebellion highlights its contribution to the demise of the Articles of Confederation and the ratification of the Constitution. What was Shays’s Rebellion? In the winter of 1786-1787, many farmers protesting the foreclosure of their farms took up arms and stormed county courthouses across Massachusetts. All over New England, there existed a growing frustration with the American postwar situation under the Articles of Confederation. Massachusetts farmers’ disconnection from the Boston government rendered the situation more volatile than anywhere else. â€Å"Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont instituted harsh laws to stem the growth of insurrection. But inland Massachusetts was so heavily agrarian that the rebellion gathered steam.†[2] Backcountry farmers banded together in mobs of up to one thousand men and marched to different cities, rioting in front of prominent shops and courthouses in order to make their frustrations heard. The rebellion is named after Daniel Shays, a former officer in the Contine... ...94 [15] Szatmary 103 [16] Kenney [17] Marion L. Starkey, A Little Rebellion (New York: Alfred A. Knopf Inc., 1955), xiv. [18] Richards 67 [19] Richard D. Brown, â€Å"Shays’s Rebellion and Its Aftermath: A View from Springfield, Massachusetts, 1787,† The William and Mary Quarterly 40, no. 4 (1983), 598-615. [20] Harper’s Monthly Magazine 660 [21] Harper’s Monthly Magazine 661 [22] Starkey 235 [23] Houston Chronicle, â€Å"Side by side memorials tell both sides of 1787 Shays Rebellion,† 6 February, 1987, 8. [24] Kenney [25] Robert A. Feer, â€Å"Shays’s Rebellion and the Constitution: A Study in Causation,† The New England Quarterly 42, no. 3 (1969), 388-410. [26] Szatmary 123 [27] Houston Chronicle [28] Starkey 242 [29] Jackson [30] Jonathan Clark, â€Å"The tree of liberty refreshed,† The Times, 28 November 1996, 1.