The adoption of the U.S. Constitution was haunted by the specter of Shays's Rebellion. (A copy of the Constitution is not in the exhibit.)

By 1786, the American Revolution, it seemed, had almost gone too far. General George Washington wrote:

"I am mortified beyond expression when I view the clouds that have spread over the brightest morn that ever dawned in any country... What a triumph for the advocates of despotism, to find that we are incapable of governing ourselves and that systems founded on the basis of equal liberty are merely ideal and fallacious."

The American Revolution’s Final Battle

Daniel Shays (1747?-1825, born Hopkinton, MA), a decorated Revolutionary Army captain, led a rebellion against unsettled economic conditions and against politicians and laws which were grossly unfair to farmers and working people in general. They protested against excessive taxes on property, polling taxes which prevented the poor from voting, unfair actions by the court of common pleas, the high cost of lawsuits, and the lack of a stable currency. They rallied for the government issue of paper money, since at the time there were a variety of paper monies in circulation, but not much was honored at face value.

The Revolutionary War was over, but the United States had yet to form formal government organizations. The Constitutional Congress had yet to convene, and the country was in chaos. The rebels protested against governmental and court systems that were wrought with dictatorial and oppressive regimes and against excessive salaries for government and court officials.

Starting in the Summer of 1786, they closed the courts in Northampton, Great Barrington, Worcester and Concord to prevent the sitting of the courts, whose actions had been grossly unfair to working people.

In January, 1787, Shays and the others insurgents chose the Federal Arsenal in Springfield to be the next target. Shays, with about 1,500 fellow rebels behind him, marched on the arsenal on January 25^th, 1787. It was on the grounds of the Springfield Armory that the high-water mark of this violent and wide-spread rebellion, or “Regulation” as it was known at the time, crested in the bloody clash at the arsenal in an effort by the rebels to seize the barracks, cannon, muskets, and ammunition stored there.

The rebel column, of about three regiments, was arrayed on what is today State Street approaching today’s Federal Square before they advanced toward the militia emplaced on the grounds of today’s Armory Square [the grass quadrangle in front of the Springfield Armory NHS Museum]. Militia General William Shepard defended the arsenal with 1,200 local militiamen who, as the rebel column approached, fired their cannons into the ranks of the advancing rebels, killing four and wounding 20. Neither the rebels nor the defending militia fired a musket. Crying "murder" -- for the insurgent farmer-veterans never supposed their neighbors and fellow veterans would fire on them -- the Shays men retreated in disarray toward Chicopee.

The Supreme Judicial Court soon sentenced fourteen of the rebellion's leaders, including Shays, to death for treason. They were later pardoned by newly-elected Governor John Hancock. Only two men, John Bly and Charles Rose of Berkshire County, were hung for their part in the Rebellion. A newly-elected Massachusetts Legislature in Boston began to undertake the slow work of reform.

That summer, the Federal Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia struggled to create a stronger central government that would "establish justice and insure domestic tranquillity." Shays's Rebellion is considered the one of the major events leading to the formation of the United States Constitution.

Springfield Armory NHS, US NPS

American flintlock musket

made 1754-1780

The militia and Shays’s rebels used similar weapons on January 25^th, 1787, though none were fired by either side. Modeled on the British Long Land Service Musket, it is .75” caliber, and mounts a socket bayonet. The lock is a repaired British musket flintlock marked “Farmer 1746.”

This musket is made from a combination of British, European, and American parts incorporated into an American maple French-styled stock. It is typical of many made for military use on the eve of the Revolutionary War. 

cat. number: SPAR 1271

Springfield Armory NHS, US NPS

French flintlock musket

made 1764-68

The militia withdrew and used similar weapons from the Springfield Arsenal on January 25^th, 1787, though none were fired by either side. Note the “US” stamp at the rear of the lockplate indicating United States property.                                

This French-made Model 1763 flintlock musket is .69” caliber and is typical of the thousands in storage in Springfield Arsenal at the time of Shays’s Rebellion. France supplied them to the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War (1775-1781) in the fight for independence. 

cat. number: SPAR 5376

"The Looking Glass for 1787," Library of Congress

Capt. Daniel Shays and Capt. Job Shattuck

Daniel Shays, left, and Job Shattuck, shown in this engraving from Bickerstaff's Boston Almanack for 1787, led debt-ridden citizens against the Massachusetts state government.  The rebellion dramatized the need for stronger central government.

SHAYS, born in Hopkinton, MA, in 1747, served in the Revolutionary War as an ensign at the Battle of Bunker Hill, and attained the rank of captain in the Continental Army.  He took a leading part in the popular movement in western Massachusetts for the redress of grievances, leading 1,200 men in a failed attempt to overrun Springfield Arsenal on January 25^th, 1787.  After the rebellion was put down, he was pardoned and later, in his old age, was allowed a pension for his services during the Revolutionary War. He died in Sparta, NY, September 29, 1825.

SHATTUCK, born in Groton, MA, in 1758, served as a captain in the Revolutionary War, and was later a leader in Shays' Rebellion. A large landowner, he was resolute, uncompromising, and a leader among his townsmen. He died in Groton, MA, May 4, 1827.

The cartoon, behind them, from 1787, illustrates the social and political tensions of that tumultuous year. Note two men, labeled “CATO” and “J,” conversing. These are pen names. “CATO” is Alexander Hamilton and “J” is Thomas Jefferson. Note the poor farmer shown in the middle of the cartoon.

Loan: Prof. John Gately, English Dept., Springfield technical Community College

The Massachusetts Constitution

1780

AN ADDRESS OF THE CONVENTION FOR FRAMING A NEW CONSTITUTION OF GOVERNMENT FOR THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS-BAY

Printed by White and Adams, next door to the Cromwell’s Head Tavern, in School Street, Boston, 1780.

The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the fundamental governing document of Massachusetts. It was written by John Adams, Samuel Adams, and James Bowdoin. The constitution was adopted in 1780 and is the oldest functioning written constitution in the world. This is a first printing from 1780.

The Massachusetts Constitution was the last of the first set of the state constitutions to be written. Consequently, it was more sophisticated than many of the other documents. Among the improvements was the structure of the document itself: instead of just a listing of provisions, it had a structure of chapters, sections, and articles. This structure was replicated by the US Constitution.

Inequities written into the Massachusetts constitution, as a way of protecting the landed classes, resulted in political and social tensions as wealth and power became concentrated in the upper classes during the 1780’s. Repeated petitions by increasingly disaffected citizens for redress failed until open rebellion erupted in 1786 in what came to be known as Shays’s Rebellion.

Loan: Prof. John Gately, English Dept., Springfield Technical Community College

AN ASTRONOMICAL DIARY OR ALMANACK

For the year of CHRISTIAN Era 1787

By Nathanael Low, printed by T. & J. Fleet, Boston.

Opened to the page showing the “Scale of Depreciation” listing the extraordinary inflation rate of money of nearly 4,000% from 1777 to 1780.

Loan: Prof. John Gately, English Dept., Springfield Technical Community College

The Worcester Magazine

Printed by Isaiah Thomas, Worcester, MA, 1786-7.

Like newspapers today, it served as a forum through which common ordinary citizens could be heard in the “Letters to the Editors.” It is open to pages displaying letters and proclamations by both sides before and after January 25^th, 1787.

Loan: Prof. John Gately, English Dept., Springfield Technical Community College

THE HISTORY OF THE INSURRECTIONS IN MASSACHUSETTS,

George Richard Minot, printed by Isaiah Thomas, Worcester, 1788.

        [opened to the title page]

This is the first published history of the rebellion. Although this account was deeply unsympathetic to the rural Regulators, it became the basis for most subsequent narratives. Benjamin Lincoln

                                                         and George Washington both

                                                            thought well of it.

Archives, Springfield Armory NHS, US NPS

THE HISTORY OF THE INSURRECTIONS IN MASSACHUSETTS,

George Richard Minot, pub. by James W. Burditt & Co., J. Belcher, printer, Boston, 1810.

Archives, Springfield Armory NHS, US NPS

      The history is opened to the pages describing the march on Springfield Arsenal, January 25^th, 1787.