Daniel Shays
Daniel Shays, a man said to be very courageous and strong. He was born in 1747 in the town of Middlesex, Massachusetts. His father was Patrick Shays and his mother, Margaret Dempsey. He grew up on a farm and worked on it for a lot of his childhood. He had a very modest education and was a farm laborer for quite some time including during the time of the American Revolution.
He along with many of his other farm mates was very upset with the unfair and oppressive economic conditions. He wanted some way to seek relief from this oppression. So he joined a local militia and due to his courage he went up the ranks and eventually became Captain in the 5th Massachusetts Regiment of the Continental Army. Unfortunately, he didn’t think ahead to how the war would affect him and the state he lived in.
After the war the farmers suffered dearly due to the scarcity of money from after the war. His local peoples eventually elected him into local office; they felt as though he would be a great advocate for the farmers whose voices aren’t normally heard in public meetings or by the government. He (along with others) wrote up petitions expressing the farmer’s distress and pain due to the unfair taxes and their lack of money. They were demanding relief for debtors by means of a reduction in government expenditures, and restraints on courts and attorney fees. When this didn’t work Shays developed his own group of people of about 1,200 and tried to seize the Federal Arsenal in January of 1787. Unfortunately they were taken by surprise and a lot were captured by the state militia on February 4, 1787. Shays managed to escape and go into hiding, but eventually, all of the revolters were pardoned and were excused of their crimes. Shays died on September 29 1825. It is said that due to his rebellion he influenced the replacement of the Articles of Confederation. Thus leading to a stronger national government. In other words, (for the sake of conversation) let’s say a law was passed in a certain state saying left handed people can’t vote, yet the federal law says no man shall be denied the right to vote so it is therefore shot down due to the greater power.