MAKING OF A NEW NATION 1776 1800
SHAYS REBELLION
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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They forced the farmers to become soldiers.
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They made the farmers into slaves.
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They sentenced the farmers to death.
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They seized and sold farmers’ land, livestock, and crops.
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Detailed explanation-1: -Unlike many other state legislatures in the 1780s, the Massachusetts government didn’t respond to the economic crisis by passing pro-debtor laws (like forgiving debt and printing more paper money). As a result local sheriffs seized many farms and some farmers who couldn’t pay their debts were put in prison.
Detailed explanation-2: -The farmers who fought in the Revolutionary War had received little compensation, and by the 1780s many were struggling to make ends meet. Businesses in Boston and elsewhere demanded immediate payment for goods that farmers had previously bought on credit and often paid off through barter.
Detailed explanation-3: -Meanwhile, the Massachusetts legislature raised taxes to pay the state’s wartime debt and meet the national Congress’s requisitions of taxes from the states. Farmers were burdened by high taxes and unable to pay their debts, especially mortgages.
Detailed explanation-4: -FIRST: The present system of taxation operates unfairly between the poor and the wealthy classes. SECOND: The tax rates have been set too high. THIRD: There is a shortage of cash money, and farm goods are not accepted as payment for debts and taxes.
Detailed explanation-5: -Farmers who had borrowed money to expand during the boom couldn’t pay their debts. As farms became less valuable, land prices fell, too, and farms were often worth less than their owners owed to the bank. Farmers across the country lost their farms as banks foreclosed on mortgages. Farming communities suffered, too.