Shays' Rebellion
Daniel Shays Hampshire County Convention Radicalized by Shays' Rebellion

[DANIEL SHAYS]. Manuscript Document, February 11, 1782, Hadley, Massachusetts. 1 p., 7.375" x 9.25" Tears on folds repaired with tape on the verso that has left discoloration; tissue repair to some folds and residue of other paper on recto, not affecting text.

This list of approximately forty-five delegates from a February 1782 meeting in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, includes the name of future rebellion leader Daniel Shays as a delegate from Pelham. This convention in Hampshire County, and other conventions in Berkshire and Worcester Counties pressed for debt and tax relief. This convention stated that as long as taxes were so high, debt suits should be suspended. Their memorial listed thirteen grievances.

Excerpts:

“Att a meeting of Delegates from Several Towns in the County of Hampshir Held at the House of Mr Elisha [Cook?] holden in Hadley on monday the Eleventh day of Febry AD 1782 Delegates Present from the several Towns as follows”

“Pelham Capt Daniel Shays aaron Gray Jonth Hood”

Historical Background

Daniel Shays (ca. 1747-1825) of central Massachusetts and other veterans of the American Revolutionary War left the army unpaid and returned home to face court actions for non-payment of debts, especially taxes. After the war’s end in 1783, many other veterans could not pay their taxes or money they owed on land purchased before the war.

In August 1786, protests in rural Massachusetts turned to direct action to prevent courts from sitting and were successful in Northampton. Governor James Bowdoin (1726-1790) issued a proclamation condemning such mob action. Shays had participated in the Northampton protest and took on a larger role as the movement grew. The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts indicted eleven leaders of the rebellion, including Shays. The court was scheduled to meet in Springfield on September 26. Local militia commander William Shepard organized a militia to defend the court, and Luke Day led the protestors, who demonstrated but made no attempt to seize the court building. The court adjourned two days later without hearing any cases. Protestors also successfully prevented courts from sitting in Great Barrington, Concord, and Taunton, though courts met in larger towns and cities with militia protection.

Bowdoin suspended habeas corpus, and the legislature passed a Riot Act and other legislation against the insurgents. The arrest of some rebellion leaders in eastern Massachusetts led those in the western part of the state to speak of overthrowing the state government by mid-January 1787. Bowdoin created a privately funded militia under the leadership of former Continental Army General Benjamin Lincoln. Shays, Day, and other rebel leaders in western Massachusetts organized their forces with the idea of seizing the federal arsenal in Springfield, with its supplies of weapons and ammunition. General William Shepard took possession of the armory under orders from the governor but without the permission of Secretary of War Henry Knox.


The rebels executed an uncoordinated attack on the armory on January 25, 1787, and Shepard’s cannon fired grape shot, killing four rebels and wounding twenty more. The rebel advance collapsed, and the rebel forces retreated north and regrouped at Amherst. General Lincoln marched west from Worcester with his force of three thousand militia, while the rebels retreated north and west to Petersham. On February 4, Lincoln’s forces surprised the rebel camp there and scattered them.


Most of the rebel leaders fled north into New Hampshire and Vermont, where they found shelter, despite several demands that they be returned to Massachusetts for trial. The Massachusetts government offered a reward of $750 for the capture of Daniel Shays, and $500 each for Luke Day, Adam Wheeler, and Eli Parsons. Ultimately, four thousand Massachusetts men signed confessions acknowledging participation in the rebellion in exchange for amnesty.

Eighteen leaders were convicted and sentenced to death, but most of these sentences were overturned on appeal or commuted, or the prisoners were pardoned. On December 6, 1787, two leaders, John Bly and Charles Rose, were hanged. His handling of the rebellion made Bowdoin unpopular, and John Hancock easily defeated him in the gubernatorial election of 1787.


Daniel Shays (c. 1747-1825) received a pardon in 1788 and returned briefly from Vermont to Massachusetts before moving to New York.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.


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