state leaders.
Back in Boston, he found that the issues stirring up the insurgents had grown well beyond tax complaints. Many of the rebels, in fact, had never paid taxes, but were stoked with dreams of creating a society in which all property was publicly owned and private debt was abolished. They proposed paying off any public debts with unfunded paper money. Landowners became franticthat they would be attacked or driven off their land by the insurgents. Everyone looked to the state government, wondering if it was strong enough to repel an attack from the rebels or if the situation would explode.
On September 26, 1786, approximately 500 renegades under Daniel Shays, a former captain during the Revolution and a veteran of Bunker Hill, stormed the state supreme court and demanded that it close its doors.
Knox was embarrassed that the national army could not provide help in reining in the unrest—or even to fully protect its own armory at Springfield. Rumors spread that Shays planned to seize the arsenal of weapons. The Massachusetts governor called up 4,000 state militiamen, who were placed under the command of General Lincoln. The state was bankrupt; donations for the effort had to be coughed up by local businessmen and affluent citizens. The troops were hastily sent to Springfield, where the armory housed 1,300 barrels of powder, 7,000 muskets, and 200 tons of shot and shell. Knox reported from Hartford to Congress on Sunday, October 1, that the number of renegades had quickly swelled to 1,200, and were armed with bayonets, muskets, and even sticks. 16
The rebels marched to Springfield, where they intimidated the state supreme court from sitting. Knox wrote an urgent note to Congress on October 3, reporting that the national armory was in danger and that the insurgents had formed ranks: "They were embodied in a military manner, and exceedingly eager to be led to action, but the prudence of their leader prevented an attack on the government troops.“ 17
It seemed to Knox as if the fabric of society was unraveling. According to intelligence, Shays was gaining sympathetic support in the neighboring states of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Many people welcomed the possibility of annihilating all debts. Throughout the crisis, Knox sent regular reports to Mount Vernon to keep Washington abreast of the situation. Writing on October 23, he stated that the country could no longer wait and that a stronger constitution had become absolutely necessary to prevent lawlessness from spinning out of control. If Americans thought that liberty and reason would elevate them above the shortcomings of human nature, they had been sadly mistaken: "Our government must be braced, changed or altered to secure our lives and property. We imagined that the mildness of our government and the wishes of the people were so correspondent that we were not as other nations, requiring brutal force to support the laws."
Congressional delegates led by Alexander Hamilton decided to use an economic conference slated for May 1787 to overhaul the Articles of Confederation. Knox pressed Washington's sense of duty and patriotism in admonishing him to support the convention and changes to the Articles: "Every friend to the liberty of his country is bound to reflect, and step forward to prevent the dreadful consequences which shall result from a government of events.“ 18
Washington became alarmed as he read Henry's words. He quoted extensively from Knox's letter in a November 5 note to Virginia congressman James Madison, lamenting that the British had apparently been correct in scoffing: "Leave them [Americans] to themselves, and their government will soon dissolve.“ 19
Knox, characteristically, took it upon himself to come up with a solution, and created a blueprint for a new constitution, which he sent to Washington in a letter written Sunday, January 14, 1787, offering it for consideration at the Philadelphia convention: "Where I to presume
Back in Boston, he found that the issues stirring up the insurgents had grown well beyond tax complaints. Many of the rebels, in fact, had never paid taxes, but were stoked with dreams of creating a society in which all property was publicly owned and private debt was abolished. They proposed paying off any public debts with unfunded paper money. Landowners became franticthat they would be attacked or driven off their land by the insurgents. Everyone looked to the state government, wondering if it was strong enough to repel an attack from the rebels or if the situation would explode.
On September 26, 1786, approximately 500 renegades under Daniel Shays, a former captain during the Revolution and a veteran of Bunker Hill, stormed the state supreme court and demanded that it close its doors.
Knox was embarrassed that the national army could not provide help in reining in the unrest—or even to fully protect its own armory at Springfield. Rumors spread that Shays planned to seize the arsenal of weapons. The Massachusetts governor called up 4,000 state militiamen, who were placed under the command of General Lincoln. The state was bankrupt; donations for the effort had to be coughed up by local businessmen and affluent citizens. The troops were hastily sent to Springfield, where the armory housed 1,300 barrels of powder, 7,000 muskets, and 200 tons of shot and shell. Knox reported from Hartford to Congress on Sunday, October 1, that the number of renegades had quickly swelled to 1,200, and were armed with bayonets, muskets, and even sticks. 16
The rebels marched to Springfield, where they intimidated the state supreme court from sitting. Knox wrote an urgent note to Congress on October 3, reporting that the national armory was in danger and that the insurgents had formed ranks: "They were embodied in a military manner, and exceedingly eager to be led to action, but the prudence of their leader prevented an attack on the government troops.“ 17
It seemed to Knox as if the fabric of society was unraveling. According to intelligence, Shays was gaining sympathetic support in the neighboring states of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Many people welcomed the possibility of annihilating all debts. Throughout the crisis, Knox sent regular reports to Mount Vernon to keep Washington abreast of the situation. Writing on October 23, he stated that the country could no longer wait and that a stronger constitution had become absolutely necessary to prevent lawlessness from spinning out of control. If Americans thought that liberty and reason would elevate them above the shortcomings of human nature, they had been sadly mistaken: "Our government must be braced, changed or altered to secure our lives and property. We imagined that the mildness of our government and the wishes of the people were so correspondent that we were not as other nations, requiring brutal force to support the laws."
Congressional delegates led by Alexander Hamilton decided to use an economic conference slated for May 1787 to overhaul the Articles of Confederation. Knox pressed Washington's sense of duty and patriotism in admonishing him to support the convention and changes to the Articles: "Every friend to the liberty of his country is bound to reflect, and step forward to prevent the dreadful consequences which shall result from a government of events.“ 18
Washington became alarmed as he read Henry's words. He quoted extensively from Knox's letter in a November 5 note to Virginia congressman James Madison, lamenting that the British had apparently been correct in scoffing: "Leave them [Americans] to themselves, and their government will soon dissolve.“ 19
Knox, characteristically, took it upon himself to come up with a solution, and created a blueprint for a new constitution, which he sent to Washington in a letter written Sunday, January 14, 1787, offering it for consideration at the Philadelphia convention: "Where I to presume
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