Massachusetts history: Shays' Rebellion of 1786

Feb 27 2021

The storming of Springfield Armory is a local legend here, but few know the whole story. But now we can read all about it on the internet and see the many parallels to today.

The Revolution created an economic/monetary crisis. During the war, people relied on subsistence farming, barter, and physical commodity credit ("I'll give you these potatoes now, give me something in return later"). After the war, European merchants demanded payment in gold/silver, which rippled down to local/regional merchants and governments. Rural people didn't have any gold/silver. They petitioned Boston to print money. Merchants objected because it would devalue their assets. They got their way. Then merchant James Bowdoin became Governor after John Hancock stepped down "for health reasons".

In August 1786 armed protesters began physically shutting down county courts across central-western MA to prevent them from taking people's property for nonpayment of debts and taxes. Butthurt Bowdoin cracked down hard, went after the leaders, declared martial law, suspended habeas corpus and free speech, ordered the militia to stop the protests, but most refused, so he created a private militia funded by merchants, armed with weapons from Springfield Armory - without federal approval.

The rebels attempted to capture the armory on Jan 25, 1787, but one of their forces was delayed and a messenger was captured and it was a shitshow. Govt forces fired two rounds of grapeshot, killing 4 rebels and wounding 20, and they retreated. They fought a few more losing battles, then the leaders fled up north.

But it was a Pyrrhic victory for Bowdoin. John Hancock ran for Governor again in 1787 and won. The state cut taxes, stopped paying interest on its debt, and devalued its currency. Fuck the merchants, haha.

Thomas Jefferson sided with the rebels, saying things like "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants".

Calls for a Constitutional Convention to create a stronger, less democratic Federal government intensified. A few months later it was done. Even with the Bill of Rights added on, rural people were deeply opposed. But the drafting and ratification of the Constitution wasn't exactly a democratic or legitimate process. The merchants and elites controlled politics, as usual, and rammed it through.

The Constitution is not America. Let that sink in.

John Adams stands out as a tyrant in this episode. He wrote the Riot Act suspending habeas corpus. He said that in a republic, rebellion should be a hanging offense (because it's a crime against "the people's govt"? lol). Later as President, he signed the Sedition Act of 1798, outlawing "false, scandalous, or malicious writing" against the government. He cracked down hard against the 1799 Fries' Rebellion. Calls for secession intensified. Then the OG Republicans gained full control in the "Revolution of 1800" and dominated for 30 years.