Historically, scholars have argued that the four thousand rebels, called shaysites, who protested against economic and civil rights injustices by the massachusetts government were led by revolutionary war veteran daniel shays. In august 1786, tensions culminated in what is now known as shays’ rebellion, an uprising in massachusetts that lasted until the summer of 1787. In this interactive, students will explore how shays’s rebellion revealed the weaknesses of the articles of confederation and led to calls for a new constitution.
View or download this video on vimeo In new england, merchants and farmers struggled to maintain their businesses in a new economy without established european trade or credit lines Armed bands forced the closures of several courts to prevent execution of foreclosures and debt processes.
The insurrection was led by daniel shays, a revolutionary war veteran. A violent insurrection in the massachusetts countryside during 1786 and 1787, shays' rebellion was brought about by a monetary debt crisis at the end of the american revolutionary war Although massachusetts was the focal point of the crisis, other states experienced similar economic hardships. Shays’s rebellion and other acts of violence deeply shocked americans and spread fear the united states was on the verge of anarchy.
