Shays’ Rebellion was an uprising carried out by farmers in Massachusetts in 1786 and 1787. The main effect that it had on our country was that it caused the calling of the Constitutional Convention. The men who attended this convention wrote the US Constitution. Thus, Shays’ Rebellion led rather directly to the writing of the Constitution.
Shays’ Rebellion happened because farmers were facing major economic problems. They could not get enough money to pay their taxes or their debts. Because they could not pay, many of them were having their land taken away from them. Farmers, many of whom were veterans of the Revolutionary War, felt that they were being treated unfairly and they rebelled. They were trying to stop the courts from functioning so their land could not be taken away.
Shays’ Rebellion was suppressed, but it worried many American elites. They felt that it was one more piece of evidence showing that a new system of government was needed. They wanted a form of government in which the national government had more power. Because of this, they called the Constitutional Convention, which ended up writing a new constitution for the US.
We can say, then, that Shays’ Rebellion was a rebellion by farmers in Massachusetts that led to the writing of our Constitution.
No comments:
Post a Comment