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