Reactions to Shays Rebellion Essay The conflicting conclusions that George Washington, Abigail Adams, and Thomas Jefferson

arrive at reflect the turmoil and uncertainty of the colonies in the time after Shays Rebellion. Experience has taught us that men will not adopt, and carry into execution, measures the best calculated for their own good, without the intervention of coercive power. George Washington When George Washington hears about Shays Rebellion, he is immediately ready to use the situation as a rallying point to organize a new government. He calls out the developers of the Articles of Confederation, himself included, for their inability to foresee the consequences that such a restricted government has on its people. Washington forces the issue of creating a new government that is centralized so that the people can have a definite power to govern them someone to praise in good times and blame in hard times. In the above quote, he stresses the need of people to have someone to enforce law; otherwise, there is no will to follow it. In the second part of Washingtons letter, he addresses the fear of a powerful, faceless, unreachable government that many people seem to have. He says that the people should not be afraid to give Congress power because Congress cannot do much to hurt the people that will not hurt itself in the long run. For example, if Congress enacts an exorbitant tax on the colonists, the only good it would do them would be to practice quashing a rebellion with a brand-new, inexperienced armyit just simply would not be in Congresss best interest. At the end of his letter, Washington brings up an interesting point: he very much wants to show other nations in the world that the concept of equality in society is not a hopeless cause. In this way, Washington uses Shays Rebellion as a political advantage.

...and the necessity there is of the wisest and most vigorous measure to quell and suppress it. Abigail Adams Abigail Adams and George Washingtons opinions on Shays rebellion have one thing in common: they both think that the colonists are delusional, but for different reasons. Whereas Washington believes that they are delusional because they are afraid of a controlling government, Adams believes that the people who organized the rebellion are completely void of conscience. This interpretation is, in most likelihood, highly exaggerated because Adams does not hear directly about the rebellion. At this time, she is in London, and only hears about the rebellion through accounts passed on by wealthy upper-class acquaintances who probably do not have high opinions of farmers in general, much less farmers who commit rebellious acts. As stated in the quote above, Adams indicates the sentiment that she believes the farmers should be immediately dealt with. She does however redeem herself by reprimanding those with wealth by pointing out that they could have lent the farmers money from their own pockets in order to prevent the rebellion. Adams also acknowledges that the famers who led the uprising only account for a small portion of the population of the colonies, and that, in fact, the majority are quite peaceful. Finally, she thinks that the rebellion was necessary because she knows that something very wrong must have happened and that both sides of the argument need to address the problem instead of letting it stagnate and fester. Even this evil is productive of good. Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson extracts a very different deduction from the occurrence of Shays Rebellion than Adams or Washington do. The tone of Jeffersons letter to James Madison suggests that he is rather excited by the idea of a rebellion. He believes that an act against the

government will only strengthen it because it will need to come together to figure out how to solve the problem. Jeffersons only concern is that the government will go too far in overturning the rebellion, and he does not want the government to turn into oppressive force. In this way, he has a similar view with Washington who believes that the government should only be moderately powerful. Throughout his letter, Jefferson states that the rebellion is beneficial for the government and that while it should eventually be put down, the government should not entirely prevent uprisings from occurring. Even though Washington, Adams, and Jefferson have different opinions on what Shays Rebellion will bring for the colonies, it is clear that they are all together on one point: foremost in their minds is the best interest of the country that they all helped to form.