1) Daniel Shays, a former soldier, struggled financially after the Revolutionary War due to high taxes imposed by the Massachusetts government to pay war debts. He led a rebellion called Shays' Rebellion to protest these taxes. 2) In 1786, Shays and thousands of armed rebels known as "Regulators" marched on courthouses to try and stop debt collections and tax enforcement. They were able to shut down courts but were later defeated by government forces. 3) In January 1787, Shays led over 1,000 rebels in an attack on the federal arsenal in Springfield to seize weapons, but they were repelled by cannon and musket fire, with several rebels killed or wounded. This

1. Another Rebellion?
TheStory of Daniel Shays
Peace at Last
The war for independence was all but won by 1783. Soldiers and
civilians alike rejoiced. The army could be disbanded; officers and
enlisted men could go home. The bad news was that eight
exhausting years of conflict had left the United States with an empty
treasury and a staggering war debt. How would the government pay
the long-overdue money it owed to the soldiers of the Continental
Army, let alone the debts to other countries like France and Spain?
Daniel Shays, a solider for many years, was about to go through that
process himself and finally leave the army. At General
Washington's suggestion, soldiers were permitted to keep their
uniforms, muskets and other army-issued equipment. Lacking
decent clothing, food and other necessities, many men quickly spent
what little cash they received and sold their muskets and other
possessions to support themselves and their families. Following his
friend’s lead, Daniel did the same, selling most of his army gear,
including his musket. Only a few regiments remained under arms at
West Point, New York, when Congress began formally discharging
the entire army in the fall of 1783.
That’s you, Daniel
Shays at least it
might be, nobody
ever painted his
portrait.
Shays lived in the western part of
Massachusetts which was mostly
farms. Wealthy citizens tended to
live by the coast near Boston.
Boston
Profitable Peace
The long-awaited peace had arrived, and business was brisk in Massachusetts. Daniel went
back to his home in western Massachusetts and began to farm the land, making good money.
In fact, many people were optimistic about the future and businesses boomed. Customers
were eager to buy the English goods unavailable during the long war, and British merchants
were more than happy to re-establish connections with old trading partners and meet the
pent-up American demand. Ship after ship sailed for American ports in the fall of 1783,
loaded with English textiles, ceramics and other finished goods.

2. From Boom to Bust
Cargoes of English textiles, shoe buckles and dishes continued to arrive, but the stream of
customers buying the goods slowed to a trickle. Determined to boost declining state tax
money in order to pay off the heavy war debt, the Massachusetts legislature resolved to raise
direct taxes. Optimism began giving way to alarm. The boom of 1783 was becoming a bust
by 1785.
Daniel was farming one day, when a post rider rode by the farm. Daniel flagged him down
and it was a good thing he did. He learned some disturbing news from the rider. Wealthy
merchants in Boston were pushing for higher taxes to help pay off Massachusetts’ war debts.
Merchants wanted the debts gone so they could make more money and have more stable
trade. Farmers like Daniel however, were barely making enough money to get by and could
not afford to pay higher taxes. A few weeks later Daniel heard that men were beginning to
be arrested for not paying their debts and avoiding tax payments. By the following winter,
almost 80% of the county population was in prison. Suddenly a thought came to him; was
this the liberty that he and his countrymen had fought for only a few years earlier?
Arrest warrant for
one of Daniel
friends.
It’s Go Time
Laying in bed one night, Daniel thought of a gutsy
plan. The next day he put down his plows, grabbed
his horse and rode to the nearby tavern. Talk in the
tavern began to spread of Daniel’s plan, which
called for the people of western Massachusetts to
form a group of armed citizens called the
Regulators. Instantly, those in the tavern rode to
spread the news and Shays couldn’t have been
happier. Soon his band of Regulators numbered in
the thousands as men flocked to his cause. Some
former soldiers put on their uniforms, many grabbed
clubs, muskets and swords. Their target was
Springfield, Massachusetts which was home to the
courts and was where many debtors were being
thrown in prison.
In the summer of 1786 the courts represented all that was wrong with the government
according to the Regulators. Judges and lawyers got rich while sheriffs auctioned off the
land of imprisoned debtors lacking the cash to pay either their court costs or their taxes.
About 200 government militia commanded by General William Shepard of Westfield held
the courthouse. The General refused to agree to any of the demands Captain Daniel Shays
presented on behalf of the Regulators. Clearly outnumbered, however, he had little choice
but to allow the Regulators to parade with fife and drum before the courthouse.

3. After two days, the justices conceded defeat and adjourned. Daniel was relieved. He was
not yet ready to go to the next step and attack the government militia. The government
militia departed and the Regulators triumphantly took possession of the empty courthouse
before returning to their homes.
There are 15,000 muskets at the arsenal and cannon, so if he could just capture those, his
rebellion might put a stop to this unfair taxation. However, the government of
Massachusetts is not just going to let Shays walk in and steal weapons.
To try to stop the uprising in Massachusetts, the national government, under the Articles of
Confederation, tried to call up the militia in neighboring states to crush the rebellion. It took
money, however to raise an army and since the national government was so weak it had to
ask the states for $530,000! Of course the states said “NO” to this request. The government
of the United States was left powerless to even defend itself. Only after private fundraisers,
did the national government get the money for an army to put down Shays’ Rebellion.
Arms and Shelter
In Springfield, Massachusetts, January 25, 1787, it
dawned cold; the four feet of snow on the ground
made it seem colder still. Their breath steaming in the
frigid air, over 1,200 local militia under the command
of Major General William Shepard waited tensely for
the attack on the United States Arsenal they had been
told to expect at any time. Cold and poorly equipped,
the Regulators eagerly anticipated taking advantage
not only of the Arsenal's weapons but also the shelter
it offered from the bitter cold. The sun was already
low in the winter sky, when Captain Shays rode to
the rear of the column to bring up the rest of the men
at all possible speed.
What’s Next?
Shays knew that in order to
make his Regulators a force to
be reckoned with, they needed
weapons. They were poorly
armed, many with clubs or
sticks. The arsenal at
Springfield was full of
muskets and cannons. That’s
what Shays targeted next.

4. In the days following their devastating defeat at the Arsenal, many Regulators had fled to
their homes or gone into hiding. People along the way offered food, shelter and sympathy,
defying government warnings not to aid the fleeing men. The remnants of Captain Daniel
Shays' forces retreated, only to be defeated at Petersham on February 4 by General Lincoln's
government militia. Shays had a choice to make, fight or flight. He managed to escape to
Vermont while the Massachusetts government ordered his arrest and imprisonment for
treason, along with other Regulator leaders. Organized protests soon ended and many
Regulators began to take an oath of allegiance to Massachusetts to avoid jail time or a swift
hanging.
Shays’ rebellion lasted only a year and there were only a handful of people killed. However,
it showed many leaders of the country that the government setup under the Articles of
Confederation was way too weak. It was not able to put down a simple uprising in one state.
Imagine if the British or French returned to conquer the young nation; it would be a
cakewalk. George Washington and others will spearhead a movement to create a
government and will toss the Articles of Confederation out the window and start from
scratch.
Over Confidence
For those too young to have fought in the recently-ended Revolution, the veterans in their
midst bolstered courage and confidence. The two regiments of Regulators numbered well
over 1,400. As at the courthouse closing earlier that month, perhaps there would be no
bloodshed at all. Taking the Arsenal, the Regulators reasoned, would force the government
to listen to the peoples' grievances and concerns.
Bloodshed
The wait was over by late that afternoon when a column of
over a thousand Massachusetts men led by Captain Daniel
Shays approached the arsenal. The advancing men
approached the government militia and a tense scene
unfolded. The government troops were determined to hold
the Arsenal "at all hazards" including those few who faced
fellow townsmen and neighbors across the field. Shays
decided to ignore two warning shots from the artillery and
deployed his men into line. The next cannonballs crashed
directly into the front of the Regulators as accompanying
musket fire hit his men. The blood of three dead and over a
dozen wounded men stained the snow as the Regulators in
the rear fell back in confusion. Lacking support, the troops
leading the assault fled many screaming ‘murderers’ to the
U.S. troops. The battle for the Springfield Arsenal was over
just like that.
John Wheeler a Regulator,
vowed to “either lodge in the
arsenal or in hell that night.”