Shays' Rebellion - Early Rumblings

Early Rumblings

One early protest against the government was led by Job Shattuck of Groton, who in 1782 organized residents there to physically prevent tax collectors from doing their work. A second, larger-scale protest took place in the central Massachusetts town of Uxbridge, in Worcester County, on Feb. 3, 1783, when a mob seized property that had been confiscated by a local constable and returned it to its owners. Governor Hancock ordered the sheriff to suppress these actions.

Most rural communities, however, attempted to use the legislative process to gain relief. Petitions and proposals were repeatedly submitted to the state legislature to issue paper currency. Such inflationary issues would depreciate the currency, making it possible to meet obligations made at high values with lower-valued paper. The merchants, among them James Bowdoin, were opposed to the very idea, since they were generally lenders who stood to lose from such proposals. As a result, these proposals were repeatedly rejected. Governor Hancock, accused by some of anticipating trouble, abruptly resigned in early 1785. When Bowdoin (a perennial loser to Hancock in earlier elections) was elected governor that year, matters became more severe. Bowdoin stepped up civil actions to collect back taxes, and the legislature exacerbated the situation by levying an additional property tax to raise funds for the state's portion of foreign debt payments. Even comparatively conservative commentators such as John Adams observed that these levies were "heavier than the People could bear."