Gilman And Shays Rebellion

Improved Essays
Nicholas Gilman, a representative from New Hampshire, believes that the unconventional Articles of Confederation need to be changed and the Constitution needs to be ratified. During 1786, in Massachusetts, a rebellion took place in response to increased taxes (“Shays’ Rebellion”). Farmers, led by Daniel Shay, gathered together to combat the local government (“Shays’ Rebellion”). Although this rebellion, known as Shays’ Rebellion, was eventually put to a stop, it was difficult for the government to do so because the Articles of Confederations lacked the establishment of a strong federal power (“Shays’ Rebellion”). This uncontrolled rebellion “convinced Gilman of the need to review the Confederation Articles” (“Nicholas Gilman”). Gilman is

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In 1786, Daniel Shays, a former captain in the Continental Army started a full-scale rebellion-----made up of New England farmers in Massachusetts. Shay’s Rebellion erupted when the government of Massachusetts decided to raise taxes instead of issuing paper money to pay off its debts. Daniel Shay’s Rebellion was ineffective in its goal to help lower taxes for farmers but led to Governor James Bowdoin to lose the following election. His revolt also showed Americans that the United States of America under the Articles of Confederation had many flaws. This resulted in the new constitution that greatly changed the U.S. Shay’s Rebellion was unsuccessful in its goal to help reduce taxes for farmers, but it led to Massachusetts’ Governor James Bowdoin losing the following election.…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Was Daniel Shays A Hero

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the year 1787 a man named Daniel Shays exposed the weakness of the confederal government, this done most of the town people thought Shays was a hero. One reason Shays was a hero was because he was arguing with an unfair government that wouldn't let the people of massachusetts vote and also the taxes were too high. With the taxes being too high “taxation was one of the leading causes of the american Revolution” (brainard). “I've been abused greatly, have been asked to do more than my part in war, been loaded with class taxes, town taxes, province taxes, continental taxes and all taxes” (jogger). Critics might say another reason Shays was a hero was because he was in 5 major battles in the American Revolution and was awarded a sword by…

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Nicholas Gilman was born on August 3, 1755. He was the second son in a family of eight in Exeter, New Hampshire. Because he was born during the French-Indian battle, and that Nicholas’ brother John Taylor Gilman was the Governor of new Hampshire for 14 years, he had a deep understanding of the meaning and value of patriotism. He attended the local schools and worked in his father’s general store until he enlisted in the Continental Army. When the War for Independence began, he enlisted in the Continental Army.…

    • 202 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Shays' Rebellion was brought about by a financial debt crisis at the end of the American Revolutionary War. Specifically, Continental Army and state militia veterans struggled, this is because many of them received little pay or reimbursement for their military service. Among these displeased prior soldiers was the Continental Army Captain Daniel Shays, who led a violent rebellion against debt collection in Massachusetts. The rebellion in turn caused George Washington's return to political life and emphasized weaknesses apparent within the Articles of Confederation. The United States came out after Shays' Rebellion as a stronger nation, with a new Constitution and George Washington as its first…

    • 106 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Shays’s Rebellion is an essential part of the history of the United States; America would not be the same without it. Firstly, after fighting for American freedom in the Revolutionary War, farmers hoped for recompense and recognition. Instead, they were met with vast amounts of taxes that were caused by both national and foreign debts. “Local sheriffs seized many farms and some farmers who couldn't…

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Shays Rebellion Shays’ Rebellion was the final nail in the coffin for the Articles of Confederation. It managed to serve as the catalyst for the Founding Fathers to recognize the necessity for change to a stronger and more centralized government. The rebellion highlighted several of the documents’ failings that ultimately were due to the weak and decentralized government that the Articles of Confederation established. One of the most influential events that strongly affected the US Constitution was Shays Rebellion. Shay’s Rebellion was a series of local protest in the Fall of 1786 to spring of 1787 that was led by American farmers.…

    • 1468 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On numerous occurrences, it was perceived that Articles of Confederation was insufficient and ineffective to wrestle the difficulties. In 1786, Shays' Rebellion arose in western Massachusetts as a dispute to escalating debt and economic disarray. However, the national government was incapable to meet a shared military force among the states to help lay down the uprising. Correspondingly, when congress decided to advance western land assimilated by US through the Paris treaty, congress unsuccessfully reach on any decision. Separately from this states were separated on the issue of debt.…

    • 452 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Additionally, in “What You Should Know about the Articles of Confederation (Secondary Source)” by Martin Kelly, it articulates, “In 1786, Shays' Rebellion occurred in western Massachusetts as a protest to rising debt and economic chaos. However, the national government was unable to gather a combined military force amongst the states to help put down the rebellion.” Here, the Constitution would be a more efficient form of government because the national government would have the power to stop these riots. However, under the Articles, the national governors had no way of putting a stop to the…

    • 642 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The 1780’s were a tough time for the America’s. America had recently declared itself independent from the British and were ending the Revolutionary War in the early 1780’s. The Articles of Confederation was drafted and put into effect in 1781. The Articles of Confederation was created due to the war going on because they needed unity between all the states in order to fend off the foreign forces. Upon the creation of the Articles of Confederation, there were many upsides to it but there were struggles with this type of weak government that led to its failure and the creation of a new document that we are all familiar with today, the Constitution.…

    • 675 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    John P. Roche gives his case that proposes that the form of the Constitution was simply a representative development involving a compromise of the interests of the state, economy, and governmental concentrations. In John P. Roche’s argument he states that the government was as democratic as possible: “My concern is with the further position that not only were they revolutionaries, but also they were democrats. Indeed, in my view, there is one fundamental truth about the Founding Fathers…: They were first and foremost superb democratic politicians…”[1]. He continues by stating that what they did was create a practical compromise that would support both the national interest and be something that the people would agree with. They started with the Virginia plan that proposed a bicameral legislative branch.…

    • 1128 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The American Revolution was caused by much more than the simple concept of no taxation without representation; its roots can be found dozens of years prior, in 1763 and the years that followed, as well as back to the early history of colonial North America. Two authors and historians, Colin Calloway, who wrote The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America, and Eric Foner, who authored Give Me Liberty! an American History, offer two comprehensive viewpoints into the origins of the American Revolution and a historical analysis of how the events and conflicts which took place during the time periods influenced the Revolution’s arrival. Colin Calloway’s The Scratch of a Pen begins in the year of 1763, with Calloway defining…

    • 1401 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Without Shays’ Rebellion, our nation's leaders would not have realized the problems The Articles of Confederation caused for the people. The leaders that realized this problem were George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. They fixed this problem by starting the drafting of The Constitution at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Shay’s Rebellion was an important conflict caused by the government’s weak economic policy and led to the actual rebellion which then resulted in the Constitutional Convention.…

    • 1230 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Carol Berkin is a professor of History at Baruch College, and she teaches early American and women’s history. A BRILLIANT SOLUTION: Inventing the American Constitution is a book that involves the independence of United States of America. The years after the Rebellion were the greatest years and the most terrible periods. Even if the nation is eminent their newborn liberty, they did not have a strong central administration that would connect them mutually (Berkin, 2002).…

    • 1121 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Forced Founders Response Paper While American education has been teaching high-school students that the American Revolution was led to by events like the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Concord or the Proclamation of 1763, Woody Holton, a history professor from the University of South Carolina, decided to veer off in a new direction by expounding a revisionist theory through his book Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves & the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia. In Forced Founders, Holton argues that Virginia elites were as important as the Independence movement leaders, but they were also powerfully influenced by other “grassroots” forces such as the British merchants, Indians, farmers and slaves (Holton, 206). He also argues…

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    constitution, led by Hamilton and Madison, set the stage for a self-governing America. “No one planned the process that produced America’s Constitution”, but it all started in September of 1780 when “Hamilton was the first to conclude that a new government was needed”, even before the Articles of Confederation took effect and called for congress “to revise the Articles”. Calling upon congress to come together and agree was a difficult and long process. Hamilton was always ready for a national convention, yet Madison “was not ready for that drastic step”, but “after the Mount Vernon conference and a trip to New York and Philadelphia, Madison warmed to the idea of a national convention”. The Articles of Confederation needed to be revised, “the weakness of the national government afflicted everyday life” from not having a uniform currency to voting in congress and the complex almost-non existing tax system.…

    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays