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The Birth of Daniel Shays
Daniel Shays is born to his Irish immigrant parents Patrick Shays and Margaret Dempsey, in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. Early on in his life, he labors on a farm, owning no land of his own. Abigail Gilbert would become his wife in 1772, when they move to a large farm he then owns in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, to raise their children (“Daniel Shays”, 2022). -
The Beginning of the Revolutionary War
The North American colonies' war for independence from Great Britain begins.
Daniel Shays joins the militia and fights in many key battles, including the Battle of Saratoga, Bunker Hill, and the Battle of Lexington and Concord (Getchell, n.d.).
Currently, subsistence farming surrounds the economy - farmers produce enough crops to support themselves and their family members; wealthy creditors may offer products on credit for desperate farmers in poor circumstances (“Shays’ Rebellion”, n.d.). -
Adoption of the Articles of Confederation
The United States’ first ever Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, is enacted by Congress. Under this constitution, majority of the power now rests in the hands of the states. -
Daniel Shay’s Leaving & War Complaints
Daniel Shays is released from the army; although promised compensation for his army service, he and countless other war veterans fail to receive it and as a result find themselves in great, unfair debt. He unites with these other veterans and farmers in the same predicament “...to petition the Massachusetts state legislature for debt relief.” (Getchell, n.d.). -
Early Protest Against Taxes
A farmer named Job Shattucks, affected by the crushing taxes posed by the Revolutionary War, directs a protest alongside other farmers and individuals affected, in attempt to obstruct taxmen from collecting imposed fees (“Shays’ Rebellion”, n.d.). -
The End of the Revolutionary War
The Revolutionary War officially ends with the Treaty of Paris, which proclaims the United States independent from Great Britain (“Treaty of Paris”, 2009).
However, a looming war debt causes taxes to soar, and creditors who once extended lines of credit to desperate farmers now refuse. They demand hard currency for repayment, which is scarce; this puts “...the average American borrower under unrealistic schedules of payment...”, causing farmers to lose lands and be razed by debt (Tilva, n.d.). -
Shay's Rebellion Commences
Increasingly fed up with the burdensome taxes and enormous debts held over farmers and war veterans like Daniel Shays, Shays himself, and a mob of his followers, called “regulators”, storm outside of a courthouse, claiming possession of it. This claim over the courthouse was to prevent farmers and veterans’ businesses and lands from being officially confiscated (due to unpaid debts of course); this also demonstrated the beginnings of Shay’s Rebellion. -
The Turning Point of Shay’s Rebellion
A little over 1,000 protestors, made up of unpleased farmers and war veterans alike, gather alongside leader Daniel Shays and make their way “...to the federal arsenal at Springfield, Massachusetts to seize guns and ammunition.” A number of these protesters were eventually captured by Governor James Bowdoin’s army, while others escaped elsewhere; even so, “Four were convicted and two were hanged before Bowdoin granted amnesty to the others in hopes of avoiding further conflict.” (Hewitt, 2021). -
Legacy of Shay’s Rebellion – The Constitutional Convention of 1787
The occurrence of revolts during Shays’ Rebellion led to the questioning of the Articles of Confederation and whether it was sufficient to shut down uprisings like this; it revealed the limitations of Congress and how weak the central government was under this current Constitution. Shay’s Rebellion was a pivotal movement that caused the gathering of members to the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention of 1787, where the creation of the U.S. Constitution governing us today, would transpire.