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Title: Shays' Rebellion Author: Chicago Solidarity Date: October, 1973 Language: en Topics: history, rebellion Source: Scanned from original Notes: Published by: Solidarity, 713 Armitage Ave. Chicago, Ill. 60614, October, 1973
For an anarchist the real history of any country is the history of those
people who find themselves in conflict with the government, a conflict
which is often unexpressed except in the acts of those who are fed up to
the point of rebellion. There is no period in the history of any land
when many of the people haven't found their interests different from
those of the state. There is no period in the history of any country
where some of the people are not in outright revolt for the right to
control their own lives. It is true that sometimes it seems to be only a
trickle but at other times it reaches floodtide proportions.
United States history as presented in textbooks is aimed at government
funded high schools and universities. In the history they present, full
accounts of those who have opposed the government are generally
repressed. Many incidents of real peoples' history are omitted. Others
are treated briefly and summarily dismissed. Those involved in genuine
protest or rebellion are often referred to as misled, misfits, or
madmen.
In most history books there is an elitist bias which romanticizes
leaders, kings, generals, politicians and dramatizes their role without
mentioning the struggles of the common people for the necessities of
life and control over their own existence. Most history books, whether
of a liberal bourgeois or "Marxist" bent, ignore the real struggles of
the people and instead glorify this or that government and its leaders.
There is a great need for good anti-establishment history, for the
return of that which has been repressed. This is not to say we need to
view history as a spectacle for our entertainment, or as an escape from
reality into the glories of the past.
If history has any use it is for the living, for examples and
encouragement, to show us what is possible. In history can be found
models of the way things might be done to change the future, and models
of what has failed; and errors not to be repeated. The resurgence of the
repressed in history can give strength to the anarchist, the radical,
and those who would struggle for control of their day-to—day lives. If
we learn well from history we know we are not alone, we have never been
alone, and the future is ours if we make it so. It is for the living
generation to fulfill the repressed and forgotten attempts at rebellion,
at revolution, at taking possession of our own lives.
In issuing this pamphlet on Shays' Rebellion, we at Solidarity Books
hope we are issuing the first of what will be many pamphlets bringing
forth the repressed in history in the United States. We hope those
living elsewhere will take possession of the repressed in history where
they live and share that with us.
The time is particularly ripe for anarchist accounts of the American
Revolutionary period and afterward. Nixon has already set researchers,
paid by the government, to the task of preparing for the Bi-Centennial
of the American Revolution, 1776-1976. In the works are a
pro-nationalist, pro-patriotic, pro-government propaganda campaign
distorting the events of the American Revolution to government purposes.
An organization called the People's Bi-Centennial Commission is planning
opposition to this move by the government, by making plans for what
amounts to a counter-propaganda campaign by radicals. This seems to us a
good idea, worth serious consideration. How-ever, from what little is
known about the People's Bi-Centennial Commission, a lot of their
material is likely to be nationalistic, and at worst authoritarian
Marxist-Leninism wrapped in the flag to make it palatable.
The repressed is surfacing, people's history is needed, but who shall
write it? Here's hoping that many anarchist brothers and sisters attempt
it!
As to the account of Shays' Rebellion that follows, Shays' Rebellion is
but one incident in a historic current. In the western regions of the
coastal states, on the frontier, lived farmers who were in great debt
and burdened by distant and unresponsive governments during the
depressions preceding and following the War of the Revolution. Under
British or American government there was little relief for those
suffering under heavy taxes and excessive rents. There was a period of
about fifty years of economic exploitation and discrimination by East
Coast rulers. The farmers participated in many disorders and upheavals
from the 1740's, when the Jerseyites refused to pay rents and
Massachusetts men marched in Boston in support of a land bank law, until
the 1790's, when the Fries Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion were
fomented by Pennsylvania mountain men. In 1781 there was a mutiny of the
Pennsylvania line of the Continental Army against exploiting "gentry"
officers, some of whom were executed by their own men. These
revolutionary soldiers elected officers from the ranks and continued to
fight for the revolution. There were other mutinies at this time.
There were waves of revolts 'known by such names as The Wars of the
Carolina Regulators in North and South Carolina, The Wars of the New
Hampshire Grants in New York and Vermont, Shays' Rebellion in
Massachusetts, and the Fries and Whiskey Rebellions in Pennsylvania and
neighboring states. In many states the western counties were in rebel
hands for a number of years. No taxes could be collected and the courts
were closed to prevent mortgage foreclosures. In reading the following
account, we ask that you see it not as an isolated incident or an
aberration, but as a small part of a continuous stream of action by
people to wrest control of their lives from the state.
—D.B.
Mention of Shays' Rebellion brings to mind a vague memory of a textbook
reference to irate farmers with pitchforks. Among the countless
instances of suppressed history, Shays' Rebellion is one of importance,
as it reveals much of the true nature of the American Revolution, or at
least of the aims and ideals of the "Embattled Farmer," who provided the
backbone of the resistance to England; as one of the people involved put
it, "We have lately emerged from a bloody war in which liberty was the
glorious prize aimed at. I earnestly stepped forth in defense of this
country, and cheerfully fought to gain this prize, and liberty is still
the object I have in view." The rebellion was a defense of the
revolution by the people who had made and won the revolution in
opposition to the counter-revolution of the merchants, which has gone
down in the history books as the real revolution. As a result,
suppression of knowledge about the rebellion is necessary in order to
cover up the greater falsification of history regarding the revolution
as a whole. Nor was the rebellion in any way a localized affair:
resistance to the counter-revolution was widespread throughout the
country; Massachusetts was merely the place where it was the strongest.
The first thing that must be realized is that the rebellion was not
"Shays'." Shays was the leader only in a purely military sense; despite
government attempts to label him a dictator (and English agent), he did
not want and was not offered political leadership. His rank in the
rebellion was the same as he had held in the Continental Army—Captain.
Shays had become a Captain in the army over the objection of the more
aristocratic officers only after his Company (consisting of his
neighbors) refused to serve under anyone else; he was later forced to
resign after committing an exceedingly practical but scandalously
ungentlemanly act. At the time of the rebellion he was the poorest man
in his town, living in a run-down shack on a tiny farm. **
In each town the rebels elected a Captain to handle their military
problems (one Captain, Moses Sash, a private in the Continental Army,
was Black); all political matters were handled by the people themselves.
At the height of the rebellion, the three western counties were divided
into 17 military districts, each under a Captain, whose job was to
co-ordinate military activities in his area. The only person to rise to
prominence as a political leader was Eli Parsons.
The Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 required possession of greater
wealth as a voting requirement than had the last Royal Charter. Greater
amounts of wealth were required as qualifications for each public office
of higher importance; some towns did not have a single inhabitant rich
enough to be sent to the General Court (state legislature). The
Constitution could not be amended for 15 years.
During the years after the revolution, the country was in a very bad
economic depression. Large numbers of farmers had their property seized
by creditors and were offered the choice between jail, where they would
be billed for room and board, or working for their creditors at whatever
wage they chose to pay. In a few years, the entire rural population
would have been forced into serfdom. A delegate to one of the county
conventions said, "I've labored hard all my days and fared hard. I have
been greatly abused, have been obliged to do more than my part in the
war; have been loaded with class rates, town rates, province rates,
Continental rates and all rates ... been pulled and hauled by sheriffs,
constables and collectors, and had my cattle sold for less than they
were worth. I have been obliged to pay and nobody will pay me. I have
lost a great deal by this man and that man and t'other man, and the
great men are going to get all we have, and I think it is time for us to
rise and put a stop to it, and have no more courts, nor sheriffs, nor
collectors, nor lawyers, and I know that we are the biggest party, let
them say what they will."
In western Massachusetts, the stronghold of the rebellion, the
government in Boston was felt to be virtually an oppressive foreign
government, 'no better than the one they had just gotten rid of. Half of
the western towns did not send representatives to the General Court.
Instead, they continued to operate in the same manner as during the
revolution, when there was no real government. Local matters were
decided at town meetings. When matters of common interest were involved,
county conventions were called; in each town delegates would be chosen
and given exact instructions as to what position to take on every
possible issue; on their return they would be questioned at great length
as to what took place. Among the resolutions passed by county
conventions were ones calling for immediate re-organization of the state
government, the issuance of paper money to be loaned to debtors (an
extremely popular plan to end the economic crisis), an end to
prosecution of debtors, and reduction in taxes and state spending.
On August 29, 1786, an act very common at the beginning of the
revolution was repeated at Northampton, in Hampshire County. The Court
of Common Pleas 'was scheduled to meet, with several debtors' cases
before it. During the morning, 1500 people came into town from the
surrounding countryside, more or less led by Luke Day. When the judges
arrived at the court house, they were confronted by ranks of men in
Continental uniform, armed with rifles and bayonets. The judges were
presented with a petition that claimed the People's right to protest
unconstitutional acts of the legislature and "entreated" the court to
adjourn until the "minds of the people can be obtained and the resolves
of the convention of this county can have an opportunity of having their
grievances redressed." The Court adjourned "without delay."
On September 5, the Court was forced to adjourn in Worcester County.
Several towns met together to create a court to settle debtors' cases in
a manner more favorable to the debtors.
At Concord, in Middlesex, the court was closed on September 12 by armed
men, now calling themselves Regulators, with some contingents coming
from the western end of the state. Most sinister about this event was
the arrival of Job Shattuck the day before at the head of a large number
of wagons containing provisions for several days and material for a camp
that was built on the Concord Green. The judges were given a statement:
"The voice of the People of this county is that [the Court] shall not
enter this courthouse until such time as the People shall have redress
of the grievances they labor under at present."
Berkshire County, at the western edge of the state, had been the first
to close its courts during the revolution and the last to re-open them;
it had threatened to secede from the rest of the state when the state
constitution was ratified. To the surprise of the officials, the militia
actually appeared when called to defend the Court, numbering about 1,000
men in all. Upon arriving on the scene, however, a violent dispute broke
out over which side to take. Judge Whiting, a rebel sympathizer who was
later jailed for "inciting," suggested they divide into two groups; they
did so, 800 opposing the Court, which then adjourned.
In Bristol County, in the southern part of the state, the Court was able
to meet but adjourned as a gesture of good will.
In Exeter, New Hampshire, several hundred armed men surrounded the state
capital on September 20, planning to keep the legislature inside until
it lowered taxes and issued paper money loans. They fled, though, on
hearing a rumor that a company of artillery was coming to attack them.
The Supreme Judicial Court indicted 11 people as "disorderly, riotous,
and seditious persons." On September 26, it was to meet in Springfield,
where a federal arsenal was located. Both were protected by General
Sheppard with 900 militia. On the morning of the 26th, 700 men came, led
by Shays, his first appearance in the rebellion. All day long, through
the night, and into the next day groups arrived from all over the state.
The court was unable to try any cases, as all its personnel, including
the judges, were needed to protect the courthouse. Finally, as the
rebels were preparing an attack, the Court adjourned. Soon thereafter,
Congress authorized the stationing of troops in Springfield to protect
against "Indians."
The General Court's reaction to all this was to suspend Habeas Corpus,
revoke the right to vote and serve on juries for people involved in the
rebellion, and pass a Riot Act giving the governor in-creased powers to
put down disturbances. An "Indemnity Act" pardoned all those who took an
oath of allegiance and did not commit acts of violence from the time the
act was passed. A few vague reforms were passed: the governor's salary
was cut, a few changes in the debtors' law, and taxes could be paid in
goods. Sam Adams, for strange reasons, was going through an
arch-reactionary phase at this time and led the forces of repression
(later, after the outbreak of the French Revolution, he would become a
revolutionary again).
On Nov. 21, the Worcester Court was again unable to meet. On the 28th,
the Middlesex Court was able to meet in Cambridge, across the bay from
Boston, with the help of 2000 militia. Job Shattuck tried,
unsuccessfully, to organize an attempt to stop the court, was hunted
down, wounded, locked up in Boston, and became the rebel-lion's first
martyr.
Shays, hearing of Shattuck's capture, sent out a call for aid: "The
seeds of war are now sown . I request ... you and every man to supply
men and provisions to relieve us with a reinforcement ... we are
determined here to carry our point. Our cause is yours. Don't give
yourself a rest and let us die here, for we are all brethren." He put
his men in old barracks left over from the revolution and began scouring
the countryside for guns and ammunition.
On December 5, the Worcester Court was again stopped. That evening the
rebels held an organizational meeting, at which the military districts
were formed. The most prominent members of the Committee of 17, which
consisted of the Captains of the 17 military districts, were Shays, Luke
Day, and Joseph Hinds of Greenwich. A "petition" was sent to the
governor, demanding the release of all prisoners, a new indemnity act,
and the adjournment of all courts until after the May elections, and
stating that they were not afraid of death, war, or "the injuries of
hunger, cold, nakedness and the infamous name of rebel, as under all
these disadvantages they once before engaged and ... came
off-victorious."
In January, the governor began assembling an army of 5000 militia, to be
commanded by General Benjamin Lincoln. In response the Committee of 17
sent out a call for men to assemble with 10 days provisions. The
objective was the arsenal at Springfield, the only possible source of
arms and ammunition to fight Lincoln.
On January 25, 1200 men, the majority veterans of the Continental Army,
marched into Springfield, where General Sheppard had 900 men to oppose
them. Due to bad weather, many contingents had not yet reached the
assembly point, but the attack could not be delayed, as Lincoln's army
was approaching,
The rebels stopped 250 yards from the arsenal, demanded Sheppard
surrender, and then began to advance. At 100 yards, Sheppard fired his
cannons over their heads, without stopping them, then directly into
them, killing four men. After a few more were fired, the rebels fled.
Until this time, each confrontation had resulted in one side backing
down at the last second; as both the militia and rebels came from the
same towns and were literally friends and relatives, neither side really
wanted to kill anybody, at least at this time. Aside from the cannon,
not a single shot was fired by either side.
The rebels retreated north to Pelham, Shays' home town, where they found
a large quantity of provisions sent from Berkshire. Lincoln's army
arrived a few days later and stopped about ten miles away—passing
through Amherst, they found hardly a man in the place, as they were all
with the rebels. Negotiations took place between the two armies, the
rebels offering to surrender if given a complete pardon.
On February 3, Shays retreated 20 miles to Petersham. Lincoln followed
that night and was caught in a blizzard; had the rebels been aware that
he was following, they could have destroyed his entire army. Instead,
they fled across the New Hampshire border at his arrival.
The rebels officially disbanded and Shays made his way with several
hundred others to Vermont, where the government was expected to be more
friendly. General Lincoln went west to clean out Berkshire, causing many
to flee into New York and Connecticut.
Although the rebels were now broken up, small groups kept up a
continuous guerrilla struggle, capturing weapons, freeing prisoners, and
destroying the property of government supporters. Across the border in
New Lebanon, New York, Eli Parsons began collecting men: "March all the
men in your power to New Lebanon without loss of time. Bring arms,
ammunition, four days provisions ... with snow-shoes, as many as you can
get."
In both Vermont and New York, the rebels were welcomed by the people.
The government of Vermont at first openly supported them, but later,
afraid of alienating the other states (it was not yet accepted as a
state and was claimed by New York), made official proclamations
forbidding the people to assist the rebels, without making any attempt
to enforce them. A group of Massachusetts militiamen, in Vermont looking
for "criminals," was stopped at gunpoint by the people of a town they
passed through, who stated, "No person shall be carried from this state!
You are in pursuit of the most virtuous of your citizens." In New York,
a group of militia that captured a rebel in a raid across the border was
overtaken by forty New Yorkers, who freed the captive.
On February 26, 130 men, led by Perez Hamlin of Stockbridge, left New
Lebanon to attack Pittsfield, where General Lincoln was. They had heard
that all but a few of his militia had left, their enlistments expired.
Unfortunately, Lincoln was reinforced before they reached Pittsfield, so
they turned south to Stockbridge, where they seized the town's military
supplies, captured several prominent government supporters, and
ransacked their homes. They then went ten miles further south to Great
Barrington, where they freed the in-mates of the jail, and started back
to NEW YORK with their prisoners.
On the way back, they fell into a militia ambush; In the ensuing battle,
the rebels lost three dead and several captured, including Hamlin, who
was badly wounded and eventually died in jail. Also among the captured
were Peter Wilcox, whose brother died in the battle, and Nathaniel
Austin, who had led a particularly active group of cavalry, both in
their early 20s, This is the only time both sides fought it out in an
actual battle.
A few days after Hamlin's raid, NEW YORK officials sent their militia to
clean out the towns on their side of the border, forcing the rebels to
move into Vermont and Connecticut. Activities began to die down, but the
situation remained volatile.
Elections for the new General Court were held in the Spring; due to the
disenfranchisement of the rebel supporters, there were towns with no
voters left, while in many others only a few government supporters were
left. Except in the places occupied by militia or with strong
pro-government factions, the disqualification was ignored: "they chose
with an air of insolence to the friends of government and a vindictive
triumph over authority the suspected and disaffected characters." In at
least one case, a man in jail was elected. For governor, John Hancock,
running on a vague program of reform and leniency, beat the incumbent
almost 3 to 1; he was, aside from his platform, also preferred because
he had made his money before the revolution and thus was not considered
a profiteer. Statewide, only one-fourth of the old legislators were
re-elected.
In April, after the elections, the Supreme Court, able to meet by virtue
of military protection, began trying the captured rebels. In Great
Barrington, six persons, captured in Hamlin's raid were sentenced to
death. In Northampton, another six, most for the attack on the
Springfield arsenal. Two others were to be hung in other counties. The
High Sheriff of Berkshire County found a note on his door: "I understand
that there is a number of my countrymen condemned to die because they
fought for justice. I pray have a care that you assist not in the
execution of so horrid a crime, for by all that is above, he that
condemns and he that executes shall share alike ..
Prepare for death with speed, for your life or mine is short. When the
woods are covered with leaves, I shall return and pay you a short visit.
So no more at present, but I remain your inveterate ENEMY."
A Commission of Clemency, appointed by Hancock, decided to hang only
five people: Peter Wilcox and Nathaniel Austin in Berkshire, Captain
Jason Parmenter (who killed a militiaman) and Henry McCullough (only
thought to be a leader because he was once seen at the head of several
hundred men) in Hampshire, Henry Gale (one of the few leaders captured)
in Worcester, and Job Shattuck in Middlesex. The date of execution was
set for May 24.
Throughout early May, frantic preparations were made to rescue the
condemned; guns were smuggled into the state and Several hostages
seized. Tremendous numbers of appeals from towns and individuals all
over the state were sent to the governor. Wilcox and Austin escaped,
were recaptured, escaped again, were recaptured again, escaped a third
time ... The executions were postponed to June, then to August.
In the new General Court, the House repealed the rewards offered for the
capture of prominent rebels; the bill was blocked by the Senate, a more
aristocratic body, not elected by the people. In the fall, it revised
the debtors' law to free persons who, in effect, declared bankruptcy.
The right to serve on juries was restored to the rebels, a necessity, as
many towns were incapable of producing a jury. A general pardon was
defeated by the House, 100 to 94.
Throughout the summer things remained fairly quiet. On September 12, the
militia was sent home, a new pardon offered, and all prisoners pardoned,
except Wilcox and Austin, who were no longer pursued.
In December, however, two men, Charles Rose and John Bly, age 22, were
hung. Bly had recruited men for Shays, was captured during Hamlin's
raid; released by the Court, he went back to NEW YORK, led two raids,
and finally took advantage of the new pardon and returned. During the
winter raids, he and Rose, of whom nothing is known, took some clothes
for a comrade in need. They were charged with burglary and hung. Murder
and rebellion were excusable crimes, but not burglary.
In March of 1788, Shays, Luke Day, Eli Parsons, and a few others, who
had been excluded from the previous pardon offers, were given pardons.
Shays went back to farming, was arrested for debts in 1792, and moved to
NEW YORK state, where he died in 1825 and was buried in an unmarked
grave,
—F.G.