During and subsequent to The American Revolutionary War, the new Country operated under The Articles of Confederation. Fearing that any central government in time would grow oppressive and tyrannical The Articles deliberately produced a weak government, which in time was destined to fail. The primary causation for the Constitutional Convention of 1787 was the failure of the Articles of Confederation. The Delegates of the Convention acknowledged that the only component that possessed the ability to inhibit the public’s freedom was their own government. Whether it was too weak and decentralized (in that it gave too much power to the states) or too centralized and powerful (similar to the British monarchy). The Constitution’s Framers did not believe in a direct democracy; they …show more content…
X “[...]a pure Democracy[...] can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction. A common passion or interest will, in almost every case, be felt by a majority of the whole...and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party[…]”. Madison argues that a Democratic government will always comply with the majority rule and therefore the minority will always be unrepresented. To most elites Shays Rebellion showed that too much democratic liberty amongst the lower classes had the potential to threaten private property. They were afraid that the state governments were being dominated by the lower class that would institute bad policies such as the debt forgiveness.
Madison’s rhetorical comparison of men to angels emphasizes that human nature is less than angelic. Essentially if men were angels there would be no crime or conflict, there would not be a necessity for a government or any accountability because there would be no fear of tyranny. Men are not angels and are susceptible to corruption, Madison’s quote speaks caution in the approach of a big
Shay’s rebellion was led by a man named Daniel Shay in 1787. This was an historic event that shaped history in its own way. This uprising began in Massachusetts in the year of 1786. Daniel shay was characterized and labeled as a rebel, traitor, and a coward. He was also considered a devoted nationalist and a decent military officer supporting America’s revolution. He dedicated over five years of his life in service of America`s government. He mobilized everyone who disagreed with his government’s actions during the time. Shay was able to lead a militia of over 2000 men. The militia was armed and willing and ready to burn down Boston. According to miller (71), Jefferson heard of the rebellion while in France but felt that it would not last long.
The Articles of Confederation, ratified March 1, 1781, were the first attempt at organized government in America. The individual states were given too much power, while the power of the central government was very minimal, leading to the near demise of the young country. An anonymous writer in the Norwich Packet proclaimed in 1786, “Each State at present possesses powers so totally independent of the others, that no
Recently, something has been going on, Shays’ Rebellion. To those who don’t know what it is, it is a series of protests against tax collections and judgments for debt. Named after and led by Daniel Shays, these protests have been going on for a while. About two months, to be exact. All about the states, from New Hampshire to South Carolina, farmers were taking up arms in protest. However, in Massachusetts, the rebellion was the most serious, because farmers were threatened with the loss of their farms due to high taxes, bad harvests, and economic depression. As the recession deepened, communities throughout Massachusetts petitioned the State legislature for fiscal relief. Thousands marched to shut down courts they believed betrayed the principles
In the 19th century American’s were overjoyed when they gain their independence from Great Britain in 1776 and soon established a government under The Articles of Confederation. However, The Articles of Confederation were unstable and provided America with a weak central government, because of the lack authority needed to sustain a nation. Yet, many Americans opposed the idea of having a strong central government, because they feared America would shift into a dictatorship. While others felt that a strong government would sufficiently help the nation run as one. “The constitution of 1787 created a “federal’ system of dispersed and divided authority- authority divided between national and state governments, authority divided among executive,
During the time of Reconstruction, an army of farmers set out to prove their point to the government. Their goal was to shut down court houses around Massachusetts to protect farmers from paying debts and being thrown in jail. The new government at the time was not ready for this rebellion and many feared this movement. This would be later know as Shays’ Rebellion. This rebellion would be led by a man known as Daniel Shays.
The actions and members of Shay’s Rebellion would do almost anything to get what that wanted and that passion is what won us the Revolutionary. This is the reason why they had the right to do what they did. All of what they did started like this. Farmers were suffering because they could not sell their goods. This lead to them not being able to pay the money to help the Revolutionary war debts. Since farmers could not pay this money state officials took their land to pay for debts. Another thing that the state officials did was throw innocent farmers in jail because they could not pay the money. After this protests soon evolved and a Rebellion formed. Farmer thought the government was the same as what the King did. Farmers pleaded for new money
As a response to angry and frustrated citizens at the fact that nothing had been in President Barack Obama’s first two years in office, James Madison, author of Federalist 10 and 51, would argue that the government was created by the Framers to be virtually unable to get anything done, and if he had gotten anything done, the government was not working correctly. A president is not the supreme leader of a country, therefore the Constitution designs a system separation of powers and the implementation of checks and balances limit their ability to exert their free will on the people.
Another issue that for the opposition was the issue of standing armies which were a symbol of repression in the newly freed colonies. Britain itself had a large standing army which used fear mongering to silence the American patriots and now the Federalists were calling for a standing army? As earlier the major issue with the Articles of Confederation in the Federalist view was the loose patchwork of state militias and military issues. Shay’s rebellion had shown a major flaw in the Articles which state-funded militias dealt with their own issues. For Rutland, the argument against a large federally funded military was the issue as they had just declared independence from a country with a large standing army and the large army would thus
Shay’s Rebellion was a series of protests that occurred in the mid-1780’s. The rebellion happened because farmers in the colonies could not afford to pay their debts left over from the revolution. This resulted in their debts becoming larger and larger until many of them were sentenced to debtors’ prison, something that is now illegal. What was once a small group of farmers, slowly began to gain more support and rise against how the government was dealing with their debt.
The Articles of Confederation, ratified in 1781 proved to be a disaster from the start. As war erupted throughout the colonies the Continental Congress looked to create a permanent and productive central government. The first Continental Congress met for seven weeks to protest English policies. The second Continental Congress met later in May 1775 to exercise their role as the central government. The Articles were formed a year later and an inescapable disaster loomed over. The Articles did not solve America’s need for a national government, failed in regards to foreign relations, and failed in economic stability.
Shays Rebellion was caused by the extensive taxing the citizens of Massachusetts. The taxes fell heavily upon the poorer citizens of Massachusetts. When the Massachusetts legislature refused to relieve citizens of the burdens of such taxes. In response, a protest grew, with many people sympathizing with the protesters’ cause. A former army captain and farmer, Daniel Shays rounded up a group of over a thousand farmers, eventually leading this group to march on the federal arsenal in Springfield,
The failure of Franklin state was mainly due to the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. The people fought for their freedom from Great Britain, but still fear a strong central government. With that being said, one of the reasons the Articles failed was due to the fact that the state’s were given more power than the Congress and National government. When North Carolina’s government or the National government did not help aid the people and caused them to want to form Franklin state.
The American Revolution had 1500 farmers that had protested in Shay’s Rebellion. Daniel Gray is a guy that was part of the committee for the above purposes. Although Shay’s farmers did some good things, but i think they are rebels, nevertheless they are blaming colonies for the little money they have, and they have broken laws about different things.
Shays' Rebellion did have large impact on many of the farmers during that time. Many farms who did rebel suffered from high debt. This led to many people losing their property and being thrown into jail because of their unpaid debt. Therefore, I do believe Shay had a great impact because of his power to lead thousands of people to rebel and put their wealth and live on the
The actions of the members of Shay’s Rebellion were totally justified. The members were mad because the government was taking their land. As well as imprisoning them if they could not pay the amount of money needed. Shay, the leader of the rebellion, would have to sell a very special item to pay his part of the debt. That item would be a sword Marquis de Lafayette gave him. Many of the members were farmers who had their farms taking away. With not being able to provide for their families they held multiple meetings. As well as many riots protesting what the government was doing to raise money. The rebels tried the legal way to make the government stop. They tried potions, conventions, and sent letters to the government. When that didn’t work