What Are The Causes Of Daniel Shays Rebellion

What would happen if the original thirteen colonies never united? What if each state only looked for themselves in a loosely united federation? This chaos is what caused the farmer Daniel Shays to start his rebellion against Massachusetts in 1786. Only three years earlier, the newly created United States of America had won the Revolutionary War. In order to govern the states, the Continental Congress, the only federal assembly governing the US, drafted the Articles of Confederation. This constitution was extremely weak, leading to the states bullying the Continental Congress and ignoring the plight of many poor farmers throughout the US. Daniel Shays, through his rebellion, helped spark the cause for reformists to shape today’s centralized

Shays, like many other western Massachusetts farmers, was a solider in the Revolutionary War. These soldiers were supposed to be paid by Congress for their efforts. However, Congress could not tax under the Articles of Confederation. Instead, Congress was allowed to ask the states for money. While many of the drafters of the Articles thought the states would easily comply with the requests, what usually happened was that the states gave little to no money to Congress. Because of this, Congress could not pay the soldiers when the war ended. Many soldiers, such as Daniel Shays, struggled to care for their families. They became in debt to the states, and had to sell their property or face debtor prison. Shays and hundreds of other Massachusetts farmers rose up to counteract the state courts taking away their land. This rebellion brought up a second weakness imposed by the

Congress was only a legislative body. The laws that it wrote could not be directly enforced by Congress. This meant that the states could largely ignore demands sent out by Congress. Congress also had no control over many state economic decisions. For example, each state had its own currency and taxed each other’s goods. This lead to a disparity of wealth throughout the states that Congress could not correct. This economic depression also contributed to the Massachusetts farmers’ revolt. Not only could they barely afford to pay off debt using the little money gained from the war, they also had to face financial hardship. This fueled the rebellion, which ultimately resulted Shays leading a group of 2,200 men to unsuccessfully raid a federal arsenal. Through these three issues, it was clear to many people of the time that the US direly needed a strong federal government. However, some people