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Daniel Shays: Heroic Military Service In The Continental Army

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Daniel Shays once said, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Daniel Shays was once the outgoing patriot in the 1700's taking the blood of tyrants. But something changed and he became the tyrant, taking the blood of loyal patriots. Daniel Shays is known as a hero and a rebel. He is known for his heroic military services in the continental army, but he was rebellious at one time where he caused many protests that eventually lead to a rebellion. "This Day in Quotes." "A little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing" for "the tree of liberty"..., www.thisdayinquotes.com/2010/01/little-rebellion-now-and-then-is-good.html. Daniel Shays was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, in …show more content…

He was a lieutenant of the 5th regiment which two years later he rose to the rank of general of the Massachusetts 5th regiment. Shays became well known as a hero for rapidly moving through the ranks and by showing selfless help to his fellow companions, and for the numerous battles that he partook in such as the Battle of Bunker Hill, Saratoga, and the Battle of Lexington. In 1780 he had resigned from his military services after being wounded, he also had resigned without being paid. Also in 1780 shays was presented an ornamental sword for is heroic services from General Lafayette in honor of being a captain. Unfortunately later Shays was forced to sell his treasured sword from General Lafayette for a couple of dollars to be able to pay for his debts since he wasn't paid for his military services. His act in selling his ornamental sword was frowned upon by his fellow generals and peers. History.com Staff. "Shays' …show more content…

They all had an immense amount of debt due to the government not paying the veterans, and the taxes being increased for farming. This led to Daniel Shays becoming one of the numerous leaders of the rebellions. At first they tried to change the laws peacefully by having a petition for them stating that the veterans and farmers were being treated unfairly because these new laws, guidelines, and new legislature rules (legislature was controlled by merchant interest). Therefore since the legislature was controlled by eastern merchant interest the petitions were declined which caused even more issues for the veterans and farmers. Protests began to increase tremendously, in August 1786 the legislature was going to have a court meeting considering the many petitions against the rebellions, but Shays had formed a protest that marched to the courthouse and prevented them from having the court sitting. After the protest the leaders had said that they created the protest because they were tired of the burdensome judicial process. This lead to the plotting of the seizure of the Springfield armory on November 28 about 300 men went to arrest Job Shattuck and other leaders of the protests in the area. In the event of attempting to arrest the protest leaders they began to overthrow the government officials. Shays led his rebellion to the Springfield

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Last night on February 4, 1787, General Benjamin Lincoln attacked members of the Shays’ Rebellion, and successfully captured 150 of the rebels. As a result, Daniel Shays left Massachusetts and fled to Vermont. Shays Rebellion was an armed rebellion consisting of 1,200 angry farmers from Massachusetts. They caused major chaos in this state. On December 26, 1786 Daniel Shays and the rebels revolted in Springfield, Massachusetts insisting that the state legislature address their issues, such as lack of money.

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There have been many prominent leaders that have molded America into what it is today, Lee is one of them. Robert E. Lee was born in Virginia, January 19, 1807, although one historian believes has was born one year earlier (Wikipedia.com 1). Little is actually known about his childhood, and Lee scarcely mentioned it as an adult. His father, Henry “Light Horse” Lee, left him and his family at a young age and never returned. In 1825, Robert E. Lee attended West Point and graduated second in his class in 1829.

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" That statement is referring to the time when Shays and his rebels were marching to the federal armory in Springfield. The militia only had to fire warning shots and one cannonball to quarrel the incoming onslaught. Later on, the militia was able to convince the 4000 rebels to surrender in exchange for amnesty as mentioned by the "American History for Kids" website.

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Shays’ Rebellion was a pivotal moment in American history. Shays’ Rebellion, led by Daniel Shays, was an armed rebellion that took place from August of 1786 until early 1787, starting in Springfield, Massachusetts. Shays, a Revolutionary War veteran, was able to gather 1,500 farmers who all thought the same thing: taxes were too high and the government they had was unresponsive. By doing this, Shays was able to expose the weakness of the Articles of Confederation, which eventually led to many of the government’s leaders declaring that the Articles of Confederation were inadequate, as well as the ratification of the Constitution. In this essay, it will become clear just how important and necessary Shay's Rebellion was, and how it changed America

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The dominance of the government over the poor farmers caused the March of Paxton Boys, Shays’ Rebellion, and Whiskey Rebellion. The same trend of violent protests due to the government 's inability to take account for the farmers showed up throughout the years. While Shays’ Rebellion had the biggest change for the government of America, the Whiskey Rebellion and the March of Paxton Boys helped to strengthen the power and duties of the government.

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After the Articles of Confederation was passed, the national government was weak and began to introduce new taxes to the Nation. Massachusetts began to impose unfair taxes on farmers, because farmers were not cooperative to these new taxes the court seized their property and some farmers were even sent to jail. Then 1,000 armed men Shay and his army marched where all the states money and power was, Boston. After the rebellion some rebels were caught, tried, and hung. Others such as Shay were

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Both these rebellions took place because the government was over taxing the poor people. The farmers had no other choice but to start a rebellion or end up in prison. Most of the farmers didn't just choose not to pay the taxes they couldn't afford to. They weren't trying to stick it to the government they didn't have a choice it was either fight or loose their family. In Shays rebellion the poor farmers charge the courthouse trying to take a stance against the high taxes.

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The next year, a problem occurred by the Massachusetts farmers that later became known as Shay’s Rebellion, broke out. The

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“Pride is still aiming at the best houses: Men would be angels, angels would would be gods. Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell; aspiring to be angels men rebel.” - Alexander Pope. Shays’ Rebellion was a protest against the government for charging people with so little money huge taxes and was led by Daniel Shays. The Shays’ Rebellion occurred in Massachusetts in January of 1787.

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The Massachusetts government arrested many Shaysites for treason, but was later forced to pardon all but two because so many people had been involved. Massachusetts’ new governor, John Hancock, realized he could not punish such a large number of citizens without instigating further restlessness. So many insurgents had been involved that the government was forced to let most of them off without penalty. Starkey reveals one of the many lessons of the rebellion: “Government was not to be amended by force of arms. The inefficacy of that kind of textual criticism had been amply proved, and there must be no more rebellions.

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As Thomas Jefferson wrote, “...what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let the people take arms.” In January 1787, a group of farmers lead by Daniel Shays protested in Massachusetts, because they were upset about unfair taxing laws and because of them, lost their property, couldn’t make money, and were sent to jail. They protested by taking over the government’s arsenal. Although some may argue that Daniel Shays and his followers were rebels because of their controversial methods, nevertheless Shays and his followers were freedom fighters, because they had a valid reason for what they did, the laws were unfair, and they were just trying to get their rights.

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Shay’s Rebellions follow the Revolutionary war and how the US fell into a economic crisis, There were a lot of tension due to farmers losing their property to to debt collectors. In January 1787, him and his force were sent to a federal armory at Springfield but it failed due the artillery fire and how it lead to 4 people being killed and 20 people being wounded. Rebellion doesn’t always end up peaceful and it can also show no improvement at.

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Antigone created change single-handedly, through her courage. Similarly, in The Speech to the Virginia constitution, Patrick Henry talks about his main complaint . As he exclaims: “Give me liberty or give me death. ”(Henry 152) This slogan that he creates becomes one of the main forces that eventually cause the American Revolution.

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Due to the fact that Massachusetts was newly settled, yeoman farmers were attempting to build new farms resulting in debt that the farmers could not pay. The yeoman farmers were also in debt because of a post-war recession, lack of payment of their army stipends, and failure to receive payment for their bonds. These debts lead to farmers being arrested which caused the anger that lead to the creation of Shays’ Rebellion. Other states with this problem were passing laws to protect their farmers during this economic crisis, but Massachusetts did not which further angered the lower class. The already poor farmers were forced to give up their land as payment because the farmers could not pay their debts in specie.

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He is a huge American figure during the American revolutionary period. He gave his famous speech Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death in the Virginia Assembly. He gave this speech in the second Virginia convention on march 23, 1775. The speech is about the hardship that they have faced because of the king and queen in Britain. He addressed the House of Burgesses in virgin, which the famous line come from “Give me liberty or give me death.”

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