Post #3632894

2026-07-06 16:48 UTC

On top of this, recall those promissory notes the Continental Congress had issued to soldiers in lieu of pay. Without any money, those soldiers often sold those promissory notes to wealthy speculators who paid pennies on the dollar. When the war ended, those speculators demanded the US government pay them the full face value—including interest—netting them enormous profits. Former soldiers lost twice, first by having to accept a fraction of the pay owed to them and second by being taxed to finance interest payments to wealthy speculators. 5/

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@HeavenlyPossum@kolektiva.social 2026-07-06 16:55

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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