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Shays' Rebellion. ... To the nationalists, Shays? Rebellion reflected the overall
inadequacy of a political system dominated by semi sovereign states. ...
shays rebellion. Shay?s Rebellion is more than a simple act of civil
disobedience of citizens against their government. There were ...
... Preceded by Shays's Rebellion in 1786, and followed by Fries's Rebellion
in 1799, the Whiskey Rebellion is distinguished by its size. ...
... government did not leave the settlement of this issue up to the authorities of
Pennsylvania as Congress had left the fighting of Shays's Rebellion to the ...
... 158). Shays Rebellion was basically an uprising in farmers and merchants who
thought they were being punished by crushing debts and taxes. ...
Submitted by oppapers on October 4, 2002
Category: History Other
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Troubled Farmers
“In the first years of peacetime, following the Revolutionary War, the future of both the agrarian and commercial society appeared threatened by a strangling chain of debt which aggravated the depressed economy of the postwar years”.1 This poor economy affected almost everyone in New England especially the farmers. For years these farmers, or yeomen as they were commonly called, had been used to growing just enough for what they needed and grew little in surplus. As one farmer explained “ My farm provides me and my family with a good living. Nothing we wear, eat, or drink was purchased, because my farm provides it all.”2 The only problem with this way of life is that with no surplus there was no way to make enough money to pay excessive debts. For example, since farmer possessed little money the merchants offered the articles they needed on short-term credit and accepted any surplus farm goods on a seasonal basis for payment. However if the farmer experienced a poor crop, shopkeepers usually extended credit and thereby tied the farmer to their businesses on a yearly basis.3 During a credit crisis, the gradual disintegration of the traditional culture became more apparent. During hard times, merchants in need of ready cash withdrew credit from their yeomen customers and called for the repayment of loans in hard cash. Such demands showed the growing power of the commercial elite.4 As one could imagine this brought much social and economic unrest to the farmers of New England. Many of the farmers in debt were dragged into court and in many cases they were put into debtors prison. Many decided to take action: The farmers waited for the legal due process as long as them could. The Legislature, also know as the General Court, took little action to address the farmers complaints. 5 “So without waiting for General Court to come back into session to work on grievances as requested, the People took matters into their own hands.”6...
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