Shay’s Rebellion and the Constitution
by Mary Hull, 2000, Excerpts
Adopted by the states in 1781, the Articles of Confederation
created a loose alliance of states, each governed by its own constitution,
viewed as the fulfillment of the goals of the revolution. The Treaty of Paris,
signed in 1783, officially ended the hostilities with Great Britain.
Victory had come at a price. The war had been a long and
expensive undertaking, and the whole country faced serious war debt. Unable to
pay Revolutionary War veterans, the Continental Congress had issued the
veterans paper notes known as Continental Securities. The states promised to
redeem these notes in the future.
American soldiers who had survived the Revolutionary War
returned to find their homes and land in disarray, their fields overgrown,
their families suffering from lack of food, their debts and taxes had gone
unpaid, and creditors harassed debtors. Because veterans needed cash to pay
their taxes and debts, they were forced to sell their notes to others for much
less than they were worth. “Not worth a Continental,” a phrase referring to the
devaluation of paper currency, became a popular saying of the day.
This was the climate of confusion and poverty to which
soldiers returned home. Massachusetts yeomen had believed that their lives
would improve after the revolution, which they had fought at the expense of
their own lives. Now that the war had been won, they were worse off than ever
before, facing debt, high taxes, and the potential loss of their land.
No comments:
Post a Comment