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Shays Rebellion Dbq

Decent Essays

The Federalist were aware of the people’s fears, but they were just hungry for a strong central government. The danger of a strong central government is a threat to the state governments, and is a threat against citizens own rights. During the 1780’s to 1790’s the U.S. was still in a trial and error period. These were the building years of the U.S. government. They had just become an independent nation and they were trying to figure out how the government was going to work. In 1786 Shay’s Rebellion started, which was a result from too high of taxes that were put into action to help pay off war debt. During this rebellion it looked like the U.S. was going off the deep end, everything they had just fought for was not working. Then in the fall …show more content…

He saw the problems that would come from a stronger central government. Henry says, “…the principals of this system are extremely pernicious, impolitic, and dangerous.”(23) He even asked is this government “a monarch like England” and “a confederacy like Holland.” Henry saying that in his letter shows his concern that this new government is going to become too powerful and be like a monarch like the one they had just left. With a stronger central government they are able to override a state government which takes a state government’s power away. This is a threat to all the state governments during this time. Also there was a huge threat against the citizens own liberties. Henry says, “Is it necessary for your liberty, that you should abandon those great rights by the adoption of this system?”(23) Henry is saying that the on taking of this new government could cause the people to lose their liberties that have been given to them and that they just fought for. With this government some of the people’s rights would be taken away. The Alien and Sedation Acts show the government taking away some of the citizens liberties. The sedation act took away their freedom of speech, which the citizens had been given by the constitution. This act just put more fear into the citizens since the government abused their power and overridden the constitutional rights of the

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