Question

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What happened during Shays Rebellion? How did what happened here reflect upon what was going on with the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation? How did this convince people that a strong government was needed?

Answer 1

The great debate among Americans before, during, and after the War for American Independence was whether a state based on liberty and freedom made unnecessary a central power, or whether liberty and freedom were inherent rights frequently trampled upon by others, hence demanding an orderly government to secure and protect them. In western Massachusetts, where the Berkshire Mountains and huge stands of virgin forest separated the few small towns of farmers, the feeling was, the less government the better. These people struggled to make ends meet, to provide the basic essentials for their families. Their desire for self-sufficiency led to a fierce independence. They had no love for government, and indeed feared that the natural tendency of government to order and secure the lives of the majority would take away their freedoms. These farmers, such as Daniel Gray and Thomas Grover, grew angry in the mid-1780s as the State of Massachusetts imposed more taxes to pay its debts, and allowed local law enforcement officials—sheriffs, constables, justices of the peace—the power to enforce the will of the government, to arrest those who refused to pay taxes and fomented rebellion, and to imprison those who were in debt and had no means to pay their creditors.

The exasperated farmers of western Massachusetts found their hero, as it were, in one Daniel Shays, who led them to desperate measures, intending to take the matters of self-government into their own hands. The result was Shays's Rebellion. Starting in Boston, this was an attempt to wrestle control from the State of Massachusetts. The rebellion was ruthlessly put down, and order secured in western Massachusetts. Yet Shays's Rebellion served as a reminder to conservative statesmen that the Articles of Confederation did not give enough authority to the central government, thus encouraging such anarchy.
i hope this helps you :)

Answer 2

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Answer 3

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