Shay’s Rebellion Flashcards
Who was Daniel Shays?
He was a veteran of the Revolutionary War. After the war he became a farmer
What caused the rebellion?
Daniel Shays and other war veterans were not receiving their pensions from serving in the war and they were losing money from being taxed by the state governments. The government had no money to give after funding the war and were in debt themselves. Their solution was to go against the Articles of Confederation and heavily tax the colonists to get money to pay those they needed to pay. The soldiers pensions were being paid for with the money out of their own pockets! Daniel Shays was becoming in debt, due to the heavy taxing from the state governments, and he was losing his farm which made him very angry. He caused a rebellion in response to the unfair acts of the government and the dysfunctional Articles of Confederation.
Why was the rebellion important?
The rebellion showed the weaknesses of the state governments in that they had to follow the Articles which were not effective and how desperately the nation needed a new Constitution or edits to the Articles of Confederation .
What did this demonstrate about the Articles of Confederation?
This demonstrated that the Articles were a terrible Constitution for the nation and that it did not have the abilities that it needed to be functional and provide a strong national government
