Post #3632892

2026-07-06 16:55 UTC

These tensions boiled over in 1786 and 1787 during a conflict known as Shays’ Rebellion. Daniel Shays was a revolutionary veteran in western Massachusetts who launched an unsuccessful uprising against the Massachusetts state government in protest of high taxes to pay off wealthy creditors. The Massachusetts government, unlike that in Pennsylvania, was designed to throttle democratic responsiveness and retain power in the hands of a wealthy elite. The Massachusetts constitution of 1780, drafted by John Adams, created a single governor, rather than an executive committee, with veto power over legislation. It created a legislature with two houses, rather than one. It limited both the franchise and office holding to propertied white adult men. And it created a judiciary appointed by the governor rather than elected—all designed to minimize the government’s responsiveness to the public. 6/

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@HeavenlyPossum@kolektiva.social 2026-07-06 16:59

Shays’ brief revolt was not successful and Shays himself had to flee into hiding for a time, but the revolt had a major impact on the thinking of American elites. The public was opposed to paying debts or taxes to finance those elites, and it had created governments to empower the public to erase debts. Where governments were more favorable to creditors, the public staged revolts. This was intolerable. Even worse, the governing charter of the new US republic, the Articles of Confederation, created a weak central government that struggled to raise money to finance its operations. The central government, for example, failed to raise an army to confront Shays’ Rebellion; the rebels were ultimately suppressed by a local Massachusetts army that was *privately funded* by wealthy elites in that state. 7/

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