Daniel Shays: Heroic Military Service In The Continental Army

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

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'

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