Shay's insurrection.--The Shay's Insurrection, in Massachusetts, has been frequently alluded to, of late, as affording a parallel to the course expected from South Carolina. But there is, in fact, little or no parity in the case. In Massachusetts, the insurrection was quelled by the State Authorities; while, in South Carolina, it is the State Authorities themselves, who are leading the incipient rebellion. Shays had neither office nor power to make his influence felt, nor talents to delude or guide the multitude. He attained the rank of captain in the army of the revolution; but he acquired no laurels in that honorable service, and voluntarily resigned his rank in the army, and retired to private life, before the objects of the war were achieved.
When peace was proclaimed, the finances of the states were in confusion, and the affairs of individuals embarrassed. The debt of Massachusetts alone, was $5,000,000, and taxation of course heavy. The number of debtors was so great, that in 1782 the legislature had been reduced to resort to the empirical expedient of an Act, requiring creditors to receive, in payment for their debts, cattle and other specific articles of property, tendered by the debtors. This Relief quackery only exasperated the disease, and the law was suffered to expire in a year. Discontented debtors then held Conventions, and soon resolved to resort to Stop Law measures; they prescribed Sheriffs, Lawyers, Judges and Courts. The disaffected succeeded in their attempts to exclude lawyers from their seats in the General Court; still the Legislature were unable to redress the fancied grievances of the discontented. In the autumn of 1786, the malcontents assembled in multitudes at the shire towns, and by force prevented the sittings of the courts of justice.
Daniel Shays appeared at the head of 2000 armed men at Springfield, to prevent the sitting of the Supreme Court. Gen. Wm Shepard, however, with 600 men, had pre-occupied the Court House, and Shays retired. When the Legislature assembled, an act passed to suspend the privilege of the habeas corpus, and the Governor (Bowdoin) was authorized to arrest by a State warrant any seditious insurgent, and imprison him without bail or mainprise. Shays, and the other insurgent chieftains, marched to Worcester and Concord, to stop the courts. The Governor despatched parties of volunteer cavalry from Boston into Worcester and Middlesex counties in November, and Job Shattuck and several others were arrested and confined in Boston jail. At this time, there were strong apprehensions that the rebel forces would march to Boston, and make desperate efforts to liberate these prisoners from Boston jail. Shays exclaimed with an oath that he would have done it, had it not been for that county of Essex. Essex was almost the only county that was perfectly loyal and uninfected. In Old Hampshire, Shays, with 300 of his followers, took possession of the Court House at Springfield, and prevented the sitting of the court.
The Governor, finding the posse comitatus was too weak to resist such violence, ordered a detachment of 4400 rank and file of the militia to be raised, to be ready to act by the 19th of January, 1787, under Major General Benjamin Lincoln.--A body of Militia reached Worcester on the 22d, and the Court was protected. Gen. Shepard, with another detachment of the militia, of 1100 men, was stationed at Springfield, to protect the arsenal. The rebels, under Daniel Shays, Luke Day, and Eli Parsons, soon gathered a force in that vicinity, of 2000 men, and on the 25th of January advanced in a menacing manner towards the arsenal. Gen. Shepard sent an aid-de-camp to inquire the design of the movement, and to warn Shays of his danger. The answer was, that they would have possession of the barracks; and they immediately marched to within 250 yards of the arsenal. They were again warned that if they approached nearer, they would be fired on: still they advanced. He then ordered the artillery to be pointed at the centre of their column. The cry of murder then arose from the rear of the insurgents, and the whole were struck with panic and confusion. Shays lost all control over them, and they fled precipitately, 10 miles, leaving 3 dead and 1 wounded. Gen. Lincoln arrived on the 27th, and commenced a pursuit of the rebels, which continued till the principal part were dispersed.
Those who held together, on the 3d of February, marched to Petersham. Gen. Lincoln, with his forces, commenced the pursuit at 8 o'clock the same evening, and made a forced march of 30 miles, through a deep snow, in severe cold, and amid a violent storm. At 9 o'clock the following morning, he reached Petersham, rushed upon the unsuspecting rebels, routed them without bloodshed, and took 150 prisoners.
Shays, and the other leaders escaped, and fled for refuge first to the New Hampshire Grants, (since, the state of Vermont.) Gov. Chittenden, desirous of augmenting the population of that territory, was disposed to give them shelter; but Gov. Bowdoin sent to demand the refugees. They then fled to Isle aux Noix and to St Johns, with the view of retiring to Canada; but the British commander at the latter post refused to allow them to pass, unless Lord Dorchester, the Canadian Governor in Chief, first granted permission. They turned back, and were some time concealed in Vermont.
On the 10th March, the General Court appointed three Commissioners, Gen. Lincoln, Hon. S. Phillips, Jr., and Hon. S. A. Otis, to proceed to the Western Counties, for the purpose of granting indemnity to the insurgents, on their making submission and taking the oath of allegiance. Seven hundred and ninety persons took the benefit of the commission. Shays, Wheeler, Parsons, Luke Day, and a few others, however, were excepted.--Fourteen were arrested, and convicted of high treason, and received the sentence of death, but were all ultimately pordoned.
Good frequently springs from evil. Shays' Rebellion served to impress on the public mind a belief of the necessity of a new form of National Government. It may be doubted, whether the present United States Constitution would have been adopted, if that rebellion had not predisposed the minds of the people in favor of an energetic government.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
By His Excellency
JAMES BOWDOIN,Esquire,
Governour of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
AN ADDRESS,
To the good People of the Commonwealth.
A Spirit of discontent, originating in supposed grievances, having, in the course of the last fall, stimulated many of the citizens in several of the Counties of this Commonwealth, to the commission of acts subversive of government, and of the peace and security derived from it, I thought it expedient to assemble, and accordingly did assemble, the General Court for the special purpose of considering those grievances, and all complaints whatever, and if possible, removing the causes of them. A patient and candid attention was paid to the business of the Session, and every relief given, consistent with the existence of government, and the principles of equal justice. These the Legislature could not infringe, without bringing upon themselves the detestation of mankind, and the frowns of Heaven.
But relief was not the only object, upon which the General court bestowed their attention. In tenderness to the misguided, and in hopes of reclaiming the obstinate, an Act of Indemnity was passed for all the outrages, which had been committed against law, and the officers of it, upon this mild condition alone, that the perpetrators should return to a due submission to lawful authority; and, as a test of their sincerity, should, before the first day of January following, take and subscribe the oaths of allegiance, required by the Constitution.
In addition to these measures, the state of the Treasury, the expenditure of monies received, the situation of our foreign and domestic debt, and other important matters, were, in particular detail, communicated to the people, by an address from the Legislature. In that address they were also informed, of the dangerous and destructive tendency of popular insurrections; and the Insurgents were conjured, in the most serious and persuasive manner, to desist from their lawless conduct, lest they should involve themselves and their country in ruin. But, what have been the consequences?--The measures intended for giving them satisfaction and indemnity have been spurned at: And since the publication of those measures, the same Insurgents have frequently embodied, and with a military force, repeatedly interrupted the Judicial Courts in the Counties of Hampshire and Worcester: which demonstrates, that the Government is held by them at open defiance; and that the laws are, in those Counties, laid prostrate.
By a resolve of the 24th of October, the Legislature expressed their full confidence, that the Governour would persevere in the exercise of the powers, vested in him by the Constitution, for enforcing due obedience to the authority and laws of government; and for preventing any attempts to interrupt the administration of law and justice; upon which the peace and safety of the Commonwealth so essentially depend.
In the present dangerous and critical situation of affairs, I feel myself constrained, by the most sacred obligations of duty, and for the purposes intended by the Legislature, to call those powers into immediate exercise, for the protection of the Commonwealth, against the attempts of all persons who shall enterprize its destruction, invasion, detriment or annoyance: And I have accordingly, pursuant to my own ideas of duty, as well as the expectations of the General Court, ordered a part of the Militia to assemble in arms, for the purpose of protecting the Judical Courts next to be holden in the County of Worcester; of aiding the Civil Magistrate to execute the laws; of repelling all Insurgents against the Government; and of apprehending all disturbers of the public peace.
It is now become evident, that the object of the Insurgents is to annihilate our present happy constitution, or to force the General Court into measures repugnant to every idea of justice, good faith, and national policy.
{Begin handwritten}Nos {Omitted text, 2w} Rebellion{End handwritten}
And those who encourage, or in any way assist them, either individually, or in a corporate capacity, do partake of their guilt; and will be legally responsible for it.
Success, on the part of the Insurgents, in either of those views, must be destructive of civil liberty, and of the important blessings derived from it: and as it would be the result of force, undirected by any moral principle, it must finally terminate in despotism--despotism in the worst of its forms.
Is then the goodly fabric of freedom, which cost us so much blood and treasure, so soon to be thrown into ruins?--Is it to stand but just long enough, and for no other purpose than, to flatter the tyrants of the earth in their darling maxim, that mankind are not made to be free?
The present is certainly a most interesting period; and if we wish to support that goodly fabric, and to avoid domestick slavery, men of principle, the friends of justice and the Constitution, must now take their stations, and unite under the Government in every effort for suppressing the present commotions and all insurrections whatever, or be infamously accessory to their own and their country's ruin. But in such an union, should they prove as firm in the support of justice and the Constitution, as the Insurgents have been obstinate in trampling them under their feet, the force of government will have so decided a superiority as to put an end to the present convulsions, and restore a regular administration of law, without the horrors of bloodshed, and a civil war: which I most ardently deprecate; and will strenuonsly endeavor to prevent.
But unless such a force appears, those, which indeed are the greatest of national evils, seem inevitable.
If the Constitution is to be destroyed, and insurrection stalk unopposed by authority, individuals, as they regard their own happiness and freedom, will, from necessity, combine for defence, and meet force with force: or voluntarily and ingloriously relinquish the blessings, without which life would cease to be desirable; and which, by the laws of God and Nature ought never to be tamely surrendered.
What would be the end of such events, is known only to Him, who can open the volume and read the pages of futurity.
Strongly impressed with the truth of these ideas, I must conjure the good people of the Commonwealth, as they value life and the enjoyments of it, as they regard their own characters, and the dignity of human nature, to summon up every virtuous principle within them, and to co-operate with Government in every necessary exertion, for restoring to the Commonwealth that order, harmony and peace, upon which its happiness and character do essentially depend.
Given at the Council-Chamber, in Boston, the 12th day of January, 1787; and in the eleventh year of the Independence of the Confederated States of America.
James Bowdoin.
By his Excellency's command.
John Avery, jun. Sec.
[Published by Authority.]
Also See:
Rufus King to Henry Lee?, "and in every Respect Treat the Citizens in arms...", Feb. 10, 1787
"The people cannot be all, & always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. We have had 13. states independent 11. years. There has been one rebellion. That comes to one rebellion in a century & a half for each state. What country before ever existed a century & half without a rebellion? & what country can preserve it's liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon & pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. It is it's natural manure. Our Convention has been too much impressed by the insurrection of Massachusetts: and in the spur of the moment they are setting up a kite to keep the hen-yard in order. I hope in God this article will be rectified before the new constitution is accepted."
- Thomas Jefferson, Nov. 13, 1787 letter to William S. Smith.
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