Farmers In Shay's Rebellion

Daniel Shays led a rebellion after the U.S. went into economic depression. This caused the Massachusetts government to seize several farms and sell them to re-gain profits. Shays led a mob of 1,000 enraged Massachusetts farmers to get weaponry from a state warehouse in August 1786. The rebellion was a fail because Shays and other fellow comrades were arrested. All in all, Daniel Shays led a rebellion because many farmers plots of land were taken and sold for profit.

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.

Rebels or freedom fighters? Shay’s army had actions that were unacceptable such as refusing to pay taxes, stealing guns from the government, and breaking one another out of jail. Although Shay’s army were seen as freedom fighters, Nevertheless they were reckless rebels because they broke laws, disobeyed morals, and put their nation at risk. To begin with, The farmers broke laws. “Ignorant, restless criminals” is what these farmers were called for Document B written by Abigail Adams.

The author that I agree with in this case would be Robert Eldon Brown, a history professor at Michigan State University. Author of “The Nature of the American Revolution.” Brown agrees that the American Revolution was a conservative movement by arguing that the revolution was fought in order to preserve an already existing democratic social order. While I do think Alan Taylor’s essay “Agrarian Independence: Northern Land Rioters after the Revolution” holds some ground, I find Brown’s thesis makes more sense and backs up his ideas with better arguments. Also taking into consideration that more historians seem to have the same argument Brown does.

The English settlers in the American colonies were acting as independent states well before the American Revolution took place in 1775. There are numerous examples when the English colonist decided to act on their own accord and sometimes disobey direct orders of the crown. In this essay I will outline the numerous ways that the English colonist started to defy orders from the English crown and explain how it lead to the colonists fight for independence.

Slavery was a severely cruel time in the United States before the Civil War. One of the known slave owners during that time was Colonel Edward Lloyd. The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass by Frederick Douglass describes the struggle of most African Slaves under the supervision of so-called masters. It was rare to find a pure hearted slaveholder at the time; most of them could not care less of the slaves. All they wanted was fame and money.

Even though shays men were defeated by James Bowdin, it still affected the lives of people after the war. The Article states” Shays’ rebellion demonstrated the high degree of internal conflict lurking beneath the surface of post-Revolutionary life. National leaders felt compelled to act to put an end to such popular actions that took place beyond the bounds of the law. ”(Daniel Shays - Patriot or Traitor). Sheys’ rebellion has convinced others to fight for what's right and never give up hope.

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.

In a time when America was coming out of the bloodiest war that was ever fought, against themselves, The Civil War, and when America looked overseas for a new frontier with Imperialism. It is in this context that America started to grow westward with farm land and in industry with the million of workers, but America still felt growing pains. Two significant ways in which farmers and industrial workers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age (1865-1900) were the formation of organizations to protect farmers, and the creation of labor unions and the use of strikes to protect the workers. One significant way in which farmers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age (1865 - 1900) was the formation of organizations to protect farmers. During Westward Expansion farmers fell victims to the low pricing of the crops.

During the Revolutionary period and the time of the New Nation, several changes were beginning in America. During the Revolutionary period, taxes were being imposed on the colonists by the British, which led the colonists to reject the monarchy of Britain, and create a rather weak government. After the Revolutionary period came the new nation, where political parties emerged. The settlers known as yeoman farmers in the eighteenth-century lived in the backcountry of the Americas. The yeoman were typically subsistence farmers who grew enough crops to sustain their families.

Commonly, when people try to do what is right, they panic and do things they might not be able to do normally. If they break a law, it must be justifiable as long as they did not involve any innocent people that had nothing to do with the issue. Daniel Shays and his group of people that rebelled against the government did what was right, as innocent people weren’t really involved. Only government scammers and essentially evil people were involved, and they deserved to be put under pressure by Shays’ Rebellion, after how many lives they had ruined and laws they had broken

This approach highlights the logic that the farmers followed at the time and stops you from condemning their actions in hindsight. Back then, these farmers thought they were doing the right thing. Without what we know now, would you have been able to do

When it comes to grading America on Tyranny, over all I would give it a B+. But if I were comparing it to the world, I would give us an A. We have done a good job at keeping tyranny down. One of the most known uprisings in history is the Shays’ Rebellion during 1787 and 1787. This was an armed uprising in Massachusetts (mostly in and around Springfield). Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays led four thousand rebels (called Shaysites) in an uprising against perceived economic and civil rights injustices.

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.

In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, the chapters alternate between two perspectives of a story. One chapter focuses on the tenants as a whole, while the other chapter focuses specifically of a family of tenants, the Joads, and their journey to California. Chapter 5 is the former and Steinbeck does an excellent job of omniscient third person point of view to describe the situation. Chapter 5’s main idea is to set the conflict and let the readers make connections between Steinbeck’s alternating chapters with foreshadowing. Steinbeck is effectual in letting readers make connections both to the world and the text itself with the use of exposition, and symbolism.