Shays' Rebellion Explained

As many Revolutionary War Veterans returned home after the war they found that they were being taxed more than under the British. Some farmers in western Massachusetts took matters into their own hands.

1. Who had most of the power under the Articles of Confederation? States or Federal Government?
2. What battles had Daniel Shays been involved in?
3. Why were farmers blocking judges from entering the courthouses?
4. How many protestors were killed at the arsenal in Springfield, MA?
5. Why did Shays Rebellion make people realize the need for a new constitution?

#shaysrebellion #unitedstatesconstitution #usconstition

[jjjj]

Thank you! I’m a 7th grader and I needed to summarize about Shays’s rebellion, this helped a lot! I luv your videos

[StopKosi]

I am using this video to help me review this topic. Amazing Video!

[danielcarley]

Daniel Shays was not arrested. He and several of his followers escaped to the Independent Republic of Vermont, where they lived for several years. Eventually Massachusetts governor John Hancock pardoned Shays and the other leaders.

[esmeraldagarcia]

Thank You!! Love your videos and use them all the time.

[mperor]

your videos have been extremely helpful in my classes, thanks!

[ikd]

You might think that this is taught in schools in Springfield, Ma but no…..

[ash]

What a gross injustice by the Massachusetts government to treat these Revolutionary War veterans like this! Shameful really 🤦‍♂️

[sethhhhz]

Hello! i am doing a comic project were a do a comic based on Shays Rebellion. I was very confused about the entire situation, but i found your video and it helped really good! I had the motivation to work on the comic again. Great vid thanks!!!

[heathermerckens]

Just to clarify: The final standoff occurred on January 25, 1787 (not 1786).

[HardSoundGuy]

Great video. Did not know about Shay's Rebellion.

Two points I offer for your consideration:
- "The revolutionary war was fought to get out of British taxes." Lot of people think that, and probably thought that at the time. It may even have been used as marketing, but it was not the primary reason. Many, if not most, colonists wanted to remain subjects of the monarchy.
- The "founders who feared giving too much power to centralized federal government" because they had just come out of a monarchy (very centralized form of government) missed the point, like you can read in Jefferson's letter to Madison 1787.

[shericontrary]

Thank you for not adding background music while you were talking.

[historicalselfie]

Thanks for the explanation. My class and I were wondering if Shay's Rebellion had not occurred would the Articles of Confederation lasted a lot longer. It seems like some of the Founding Fathers were looking for any reason to make a stronger central government.

[johnking]

Your analysis, is a just a bit over-simplified (which is understandable with the less than 5 minutes allotted to the subject) But the simple FACT is that the Shay's Rebellion WAS NOT truly a symptom of the "weakness" of the Articles of Confederation. When the War for Independence began, there WAS NO UNION -- this is WHY the "united States" is spelled with a lower case "u" in the Declaration of Independence, it expressed a STATE OF BEING IN unified in common purpose to defend each other against the aggression of Great Britain. In other words it was something like a mutual defense pact. Thus as they entered the War EACH STATE went in as its own fully independent and sovereign country. AFTER the Articles of Confederation were adopted in 1788 (NOT 1783 as some so-called "historians" claim) there WAS a provision within the Articles that the war debts incurred by the States could be charged to the United States (now that the formal Union had come into existence) :

All charges of war, and all other expenses that shall be incurred for the common defence or general welfare, and allowed by the United States in congress assembled, shall be defrayed out of a common treasury, which shall be supplied by the several States, in proportion to the value of all land within each State" -- Article VIII

However, most States still preferred to negotiate their own debts as the War wore on [1]. This led to problems AFTER the War, because even though the Union existed, it was considered that since they decided to contract their own loans, they would be responsible for their own debts. Many States, (especially in the South) had already paid their debts, but many others had not. One of these was Massachusetts and HERE is where the REAL troubles originated. Massachusetts BEGAN the excessive taxation as a means to parse down their debt so they could restore their credit with foreign merchants.[2] Paying their soldiers was only a secondary concern to the elitist in the eastern part of that 'Commonwealth' as most of these soldiers had been given much compensation for their military service.[3]

I hardly see HOW this situation could have been charged to any "weakness" in the Articles of Confederation WHEN THE SAME THING HAPPENED under the CONstitution a decade or so after the end of the First World War, when soldiers who had served this damned American Empire in that War needed the monies promised to them to meet the economic challenges of the Great Depression [4] So this over-sized, overly centralised, imperialistic monstrosity that DID presume a power to tax "We the (idiotic) Sheeple" DID NOT PREVENT this kind of thing from happening at all, now did it? ;-)


[3]. Ibid.

[uncleruckus]

Being a western masshole Daniel Shays is my hero!

[ennieminee]

Remember because no one wanted to pay a veteran and they were upset and taking in out on the entity that wronged them we HAD to build a huge government that can do what every they want to you as long as it’s seen as necessary are proper.

A weak government is better than a strong government

[fouadbasha]

Thank you and why sid you do this at the same time😢 im a 7th grader and i have to answer thise questions and i couldnt do them HELP ME

[rehansyed]

Hello! I was wondering how Shays Rebellion led Americans to need a new constitution.

[nathanfallin]

You do not upload frequently enough to be called the dailybellringer although the channel name is awesome its inaccurate