Monday, January 14, 2008

Militia Puts a Bold End to Shay's Rebellion

I wrote this for a Social Studies project about Shay's Rebellion. I was supposed to act like a reporter. Here it is:

The talk of the town yesterday afternoon was the end of the rebellion-Shays Rebellion. Daniel Shays, of Pelham, Massachusetts, started his own rebellion along with farmers from three other counties in Massachusetts last September (1786), in response to the American government raising the tax for farmers. Shays, a farmer himself, served in The Battle of Bunker Hill and the Battle of Saratoga. Farmers were still growing crops during the recent war, and the demand for their products was high because of it. In an effort to make as much money as possible, they bought more land, animals, seeds, etc., using loans. Now that the war is over, the Massachusetts government has raised their tax, to recover war debts. Farmer’s who can’t pay the tax are having land taken away. This has angered the farmers, including Shays, and they started a revolt. Armed with pitchforks and other farm tools they closed down courthouses in the western part of the state, thinking that if there were no courts they wouldn’t be taxed. The government threatened to kill anyone they captured who was a part of the revolt, but this didn’t faze the Americans. This made it worse. Last month, September, the rebels forced the state supreme court in the town of Springfield to shut down. Coming back a month later, they hoped to shut down a federal weapons warehouse. Yesterday afternoon, January 1787, troops held a battle with them, and Massachusetts State thinks this has put an end to it. We will see. They will continue to capture any rebels if they should find them, and hopefully this will put a stop to all this havoc. For now, Shays’ Rebellion seems to have come to a pause.

8 comments:

Wanda said...

Oh my goodness, Melissa. You are quite the reporter. I felt like I was ready the Daily News!!

Great job...Hope you get an A+

Unknown said...

Wow, that's pretty well-written. Nice job.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the comments, Mike and Wanda! I'm not sure if I got an A...Did I get it back yet, or not?! I can't keep track....

Misha said...

wow that was awesome! I'm sure you'll get a good grade!

i just started reading this blog, becaus i REALLY liked your other blog- riding miss daisy!

Gudl said...

Is that a true story?
In any case, you wrote it nicely!

Anonymous said...

Yes, it is true. Shay's Rebellion caued the American Government to realize that the Articles of Confederation weren't working, so they created the new Constitution.

Hello, Misha! Nice to meet you! Thanks for visiting! Feel free to leave comments on my other blog, too!

worminator said...

fascinating

worminator said...

I wrote the speech for it.