The Critical Period Daniel Shays’ Rebellion & The Constitutional Convention

During the 1780s, the farmers of western Massachusetts faced serious financial problems. They were having a difficult time paying back the money they had borrowed to buy their farms. High taxes made matters worse. Instead of helping farmers, the government of Massachusetts ordered that hundreds of farms be sold to pay off debts and back taxes. Once their land had been taken away, the farmers lost the right to vote because they no longer owned property.
Filled with frustration, more than a thousand angry farmers took up arms and closed a number of courts that had ordered the sale of their land. The leader of the rebels was Daniel Shays, a former Revolutionary War officer. After several skirmishes with the state militia, Shays’ Rebellion came to an end. Although the farmers were defeated, the rebellion added to the growing demand that the government under the Articles of Confederation be changed. Many Americans wanted a stronger national government that could keep order and solve problems.

Directions: Pretend that you are an American citizen living in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1787. Shays’ Rebellion, in your opinion, is just another example of the many problems faced by the government under the Articles of Confederation. You believe that a Constitutional Convention should be held to draw up a new plan of government to replace the Articles of Confederation. You have decided to write a letter to the editor of the “Boston Gazette,” the state’s largest newspaper. You hope that your letter will convince other people of the need to have a new constitution for the United States. Write your letter on the lines below. Call attention to many of the problems – listed in Lesson 10, pages 1 & 2 – that have developed under the Articles of Confederation.
Requirements: Your letter should be written in a CLEAR, CONCISE, & COMPLETE design; organized in, at least 3 paragraphs; be 100 to 150 words in length; include, at least, 3 problems to be addressed; hand-written in BLUE ink; or, typed in RED if done on computer.

Dear Editor of the Boston Gazette,