Shays' Rebellion - Scene: A Bloody Encounter

A Bloody Encounter: "the body of the people assembled in arms"

Escalating tensions in Massachusetts reached a crisis point at the United States Arsenal at Springfield. Both sides claimed they were defending the rights of the people; the government prevailed with the help of the Arsenal cannon.

Observers

Abigail Adams
London, January 29, 1787
"Ignorant, restless desperadoes, without conscience or principles, have led a deluded multitude to follow their standard under the pretense of grievances which have no existence but in their imaginations." Click for more info
Thomas Jefferson
Paris, February 22, 1787
"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the Atmosphere." Click for more info
John Marshall
Virginia, January 1, 1787
"Massachusetts is rent into two equal factions & an appeal I fear has by this time been made to the god of battles."
Elizabeth Porter Phelps
Hadley, MA, January 14, 1787
"Thusday Morn my Husband set out with sleighs to help the men to Springfield which are raised in this town for support of Government...it Looks as Dark as Night, a very great Army is coming from Boston and some are Collecting on the other side. It appears as if nothing but the immediate interposition of providence could prevent Blood." Click for more info

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A Bloody Encounter: "the body of the people assembled in arms"

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