Shays Rebellion Analysis

In today’s America we are witnessing the divide between political standpoints of individual state governments and the federal government. With hot button topics such as gun laws and the legalization of the recreational use of marijuana and the varying laws pertaining to these topics from state to state, one might recall why in this great country of ours do our states and local governments reserve the right to have different standpoints and sign in different laws on the same topics and issues. It is imperative to the full understanding of how our complex government works to look back in history and review one historical occurrence in particular, Shays’ Rebellion. Daniel Shays, a farmer and retired officer of the continental army faced an issue …show more content…
In a document titled “Declaration of the General Court that a Rebellion Exists,” Artemis Ward, the then speaker for the House of Representatives of Massachusetts, described Shays’ movement as an “open, unnatural, unprovoked, and wicked Rebellion…” At this point, it was totally up to the state to handle this situation because the Articles of Confederation did not grant the federal government the power to intervene with military force. The government of Massachusetts had to take action …show more content…
An excerpt from David P. Szatmary’s book “Shays’ Rebellion: The Making of an Agrarian Insurrection” reads the following, “For it is clear that Shays’ Rebellion played an integral part in the genesis and formation of the United States Constitution adopted at Philadelphia in September 1787.” The Constitutional Convention of 1787 took place in Philadelphia and as a result of the convention, our nation instilled what we refer to as the constitution, which applies to the entire country as a whole. The constitution gave the federal government the ability to sign in laws that apply to all states under the federal government and ability to implement taxes on states. In today’s era, local governments and the federal government share power. In that, federal law reigns supreme and while individual state government may implement their own laws on their own citizens such as the restriction on the types of firearms law abiding citizens are allowed to purchase and own and the legalization of recreational marijuana. While there are state-by-state laws pertaining to these topics and many other topics alike, the federal government can come in at any given time and overrule the state government as long as it is carried out in abidance to the