Shays' Rebellion to Problems in the West

Shays’ Rebellion, 1786-7

• resistance to taxes/foreclosure
  • occasional violence
• august 1786, western Massachussetts militiamen block county courts to prevent foreclosures
  • elite MA creditors claimed property and republican government were under attack
  • continental army veteran daniel shays becomes reluctant figurehead
  • 4400 state volunteers (funded by creditors) defeated rebels early 1786
• several states passed debtor relief measures to prevent similar violence
  • conservative elites anxious
  • feared Revolution was going too far
  • state governments becoming too democratic

Post-War Foreign Trade

• britain banned US goods and flooded US markets
• 300% US trade deficit in mid-1780s
• few other markets were available
• government was too weak to respond

Problems in the West

• “public domain” land in the trans-Appalachian west
  • US governments biggest asset
  • greatest danger too
• several problems:
  • state territorial claims
  • squatters and speculators
  • native power
  • neighboring rival empires
  • ongoing violence
• US government was too weak to control