Shay's Rebellion: The Making of an Agrarian Insurrection

by David P. Szatmary

Description

Shays' Rebellion is often dismissed in the history books as an isolated incident following the American Revolution. Sometimes, it's grudingly given credit for spurring the Constitution Convention. In this well-balanced book, David P. Szatmary devotes the time and study necessary to classify Shays' Rebellion as the historical watershed it truly is. Shays' Rebellion signified more than economically depressed New England farmers waging war on creditors; it marked the beginning of the end of the show more American subsistence farmer. This change in an accepted way of life was at least as painful as the birth of the new United States. Szatmary chronicles how international influences forced a change in how merchants, farmers and artisans interacted, and how the initial changes brought friction. The rebellion resulting from this friction in turn revealed how ineffective the Articles of Confederation were in dealing with a crisis that could destroy the country. Szatmary links the state's governments weakness to the Constitution by using newspaper and editorial accounts of the day to provide a well-rounded view of an overlooked milestone. show less

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antiquary 3,543 reviews

A solid study of the rebellion focusing on the economic basis of the divergent interests of the eastern merchants (who needed hard currency for trade with Britain) and the westren subsistence farmers (who operated largely on a barter system and could not provide the hard money the merchants demanded to settle their debts.

Feb 14, 2016

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