The Anti-Federalists by Jackson Main, 1961, Edited Excerpts

All this excitement and all these fears, real or imaginary, worked a shift of opinion. Massachusetts men of property drew together, and many who had once doubted the value of a strong government, now hailed the prospect, and applauded the Society of Cincinnati which might help to obtain it.

In 1780, in order to forestall a mass resignation of military officers, Congress promised half-pay pensions for life to those who would remain in service for the war’s duration. However, Congress lacked funds to honor this commitment. Antifederalists feared the army’s political power and opposed military pensions or any other measure which would differentiate the army from the general body of the population and contribute to the formation of a military caste.

Veteran army officers formed the Society of Cincinnati, a hereditary, secret organization. The Cincinnati was widely suspected of a design to create permanent nobility and exert political influence. It was known that in 1783 some of the officers of the army had conspired with members of Congress in an attempt to force the states to grant federal taxes.

Antifederalists were later to accuse the Society of deliberately fomenting Shay’s Rebellion as part of a deep plot to overturn the government. The officers were accused of attempting to profit at the expense of the people, who had contributed as much as they had to the war and were suffering equally from the depression.

The Whiskey Rebellion by William Hodgeland, 2006, Edited Excerpts

The officers formed the Society of the Cincinnati, a hereditary organization with a chapter in each state. Every officer of the Continental Army was a member, and each officer’s eldest male descendant, in every future generation, would be a member too. The society unified the families of those who would become the country’s most influential men, creating a hereditary interstate lobby with roots in fear of coup. The society’s president was General Washington.

Regulators Pursued

On January 30, 1787, General Lincoln sent a letter to Daniel Shays, asking for his surrender. Shays and his men did not want to surrender unless they were guaranteed a pardon from the state. Lincoln marched the army 30 miles in deep snowdrifts and surprised the Regulators. Shays and his men fled in all directions. Having broken up Shay’s ranks, General Lincoln and his men marched back to western Massachusetts to eliminate any remaining bands of rebels there.

By March 1787, most of the Regulators had fled Massachusetts. As many as two thousand went to Vermont and New York. Captain Daniel Shays, along with many other Regulator leaders sought refuge in Vermont.

Reforms Passed

Immediately following the uprisings of 1787, the Massachusetts legislature, at long last, responded to some of the demands of yeoman farmers. The tender law was extended, and debtors were allowed to leave debtor’s prison if they swore an oath saying that they had no property to pay their debts or sustain themselves while they were in prison. Taxes were lower in 1788 than they had been in eight years.

Most rebels were pardoned, provided that they agreed to sign an oath of allegiance to the state. Those who surrendered were barred from voting or holding elected office for three years. To prevent them from encouraging another rebellion, they were also disqualified from teaching school or running taverns.

Governor Bowdoin Raises an Army

Governor Bowdoin could not rely on the country militias to put down Regulator uprisings. He now called on all of his friends and associates to contribute money to create and supply an army capable of opposing the western rebels and restoring order in Massachusetts. Many prominent merchants and wholesalers donated money to put this plan into action.

The army Governor Bowdoin raised consisted of volunteers from the merchant elite of the east coast, servants who had been sent to serve in their employers’ places, and prominent professional and commercial men from inland market towns. The new government troops formed five divisions, including two artillery regiments, and were furnished with muskets, bayonets, cartridge boxes, and thirty rounds of ammunition each.

On January 22, 1787, these government troops arrived in Worcester. Governor Bowdoin had issued warrants for the arrest of sixteen Hampshire County Regulators, including Captain Daniel Shays.

Regulators Move on Springfield Arsenal

The Regulators had to improve the quality of their weapons in order to resist capture. They had never been well armed. In fact, some of the Regulators had only wooden clubs for protection. The Regulators were also short of supplies, and they did not always have enough to eat when they marched to distant courthouses. These problems had to be resolved.

The Regulators wanted to launch an attack on the federal arsenal at Springfield. There they could seize the weapons and ammunition they needed. At the end of January, the Regulators acted on the first half of their plan. They began to approach Springfield from all directions.

Meanwhile, General William Shepard and the remains of the Hampshire militia, numbering about one thousand men, were camped inside the Springfield arsenal, preparing to defend it against attack.

When Shay’s regiment got within one hundred fifty yards of the arsenal, Shepard had his men fire the cannon twice over the rebels’ heads. When they continued to march forward, they fired a third shot into their center as the column approached, killing four and wounding one. Shay’s men scattered and some even deserted in the confusion that followed the cannon fire.

Shays’ Rebellion Series

The day after the standoff at the courthouse, the Massachusetts legislature met in Boston. First, it suspended the writ of habeas corpus, the requirement that a law enforcement officer have evidence against a suspect in order to imprison him or her. Without habeas corpus, anyone the governor considered dangerous to the state could be arrested.

Next the legislature passed the Riot Act to prevent the regulators from organizing. This law, designed by former revolutionary and patriot leader Samuel Adams, authorized sheriffs and justices of the peace to order an armed crowd to disperse.

Under the Riot Act, the failure of an armed crowd to disperse would result in arrest, imprisonment, and seizure of personal property. Mobs had been useful in resisting the British prior to the revolution, and people who were upset with the new government tried to use these same methods now.

The legislature also passed the Militia Act during its fall 1786 session. The Militia Act declared that “any officer or soldier who shall begin, excite, cause, or join in any mutiny sedition” will be subject to “such punishment as by a court martial shall be inflicted.”

People suspected of being regulators could now be arrested and detained without bail on the grounds that they put the safety of Massachusetts in danger. They could be held in jail with any evidence.