Member-only story
“You talk, my good sir, of employing influence to appease the present tumults in Massachusetts. I know not where that influence is to be found, or, if attainable, that it would be a proper remedy for the disorders. Influence is not government. Let us have a government by which our lives, liberties, and properties will be secured, or let us know the worst at once.” — George Washington to Henry Lee on October 31, 1786
The Constitution is the most important document in American history, for the first time in America cementing a strong national government. But what led to support for the Constitution came from a rebellion in Western Massachusetts led by American Revolutionary War veteran named Daniel Shays against the debt crisis among the Massachusetts citizens and the Massachusetts government. The state government wanted to collect taxes on farmers like Shays and their trades, and Daniel Shays and his followers, known as Shaysites, simply had enough.
It would be a rebellion that almost led to the downfall of the Massachusetts state government, and led to the entire country recognizing that the Articles of Confederation needed to be reformed as America’s governing document. The…
