What Were The Causes Of Shay's Rebellion

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The actions of the members of Shay’s Rebellion went too far. Even though they were angry. They started an uprise because they were getting treated unfairly. On page 195 of the textbook it states, “American farmers suffered because they could not sell their goods.” Since they could not sell their goods, they didn’t have a way to earn money. In addition to them not being able to earn money, they couldn’t pay taxes. As a result “the state officials seized farmers’ lands to pay their debts and threw many farmers in jail,” as stated on page 195. The state officials needed the money so they could pay for the Revolutionary War. Then a protest started to rise up from all the farmers in 1786. A former Continental Army captain, Daniel Shays and a cluster of farmers forced courts located in western Massachusetts to close. So the judges could not take away their land. About a year later Shay’s Rebellion lead more than 1,000 farmers. On page 196 it says, “the state militia ordered the advancing farmers to halt and then fired over their heads.” The state militia wanted the farmers to stop firing but they refused to listen to them. Instead the militia started firing to try to get the farmers to stop. The rebelliion petrified many Americans. The rebellion got very out of hand and caused “women to get stabbed by swords.” Along with “babies eyes being gouged out by swords,” as stated in the Shay’s Rebellion video. …show more content…

According to the textbook George Washington said, “mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government.” Washington considered that since they caused a rebellion, they weren’t capable of handling the ideas of their own