Soraya Pashaei-Marandi HIST 105-520 Shay’s Rebellion: The Making of an Agrarian Insurrection, by David P. Szatmary, gives a detailed report on the events that led up to one of the most important rebellions in United States’ history. Following the American Revolution there were two very different lifestyles present in the United States; the commercial way of the merchants and the traditional practice of the farmers. The material goal of the merchants led to comprehensiveness which directly opposed the farmers’ feelings of communalism. As the commercialism began to spread inward it started to effect the yeomen farmers. The farmers and merchants deferred in both social and economic views. This caused a conflict between them, which only continued to intensify as more issues arose. One of these issues was the “chain of debt.” The “chain of debt” started as a result of the merchants failed success in expansion.The seaboard merchants could no longer earn enough revenues through trade to cover their sizable debts. As a result, they sued the interior merchants for payment who in turn sued the backcountry farmers. The merchants tried to collect their loans from local farmers. Many legal actions were brought against the farmers that caused them to be either jailed or their lands taken away. Eventually it triggered an economic crisis because both the farmers and the merchants were scrambling for ways to pay off their debts. The farmers felt that their hard won freedom from the British was not worth it anymore because of all the taxes and debts they now had to pay. The farmers initially responded by asking the legislature for paper money and tender laws. They sent petitions and peacefully protested at county conventions. The farmers also wanted a change in taxes, saying that the currents taxed favored the merchants. The merchants opposed both paper money and tender laws. It was their belief that paper money would cause contracts to fall apart. They feared it would further depreciate the value of their money. Merchants additionally did not like the tender laws. They viewed the fact that goods could be accepted instead of hard moneyas a loss in economic value. The merchants’ hostility towards the farmers was caused by the fear of losing their treasured wealth. After failing to peacefully convince the legislator to help with the immense debt problems, the farmers tried a more violent approach. They began to use weapons to protest against the court system. These so called regulators focused on specific targets. These targets were mostly debtor courts. Their goal was to obtain court closings to draw the attention of legislature. At this point the government had a few choices of how to solve this problem. They could either agree to the paper money and tender laws, postpone the decisions until after new elections, or choose to aggressively oppose the Shaysites. They choose the final option. The government not only passed anti-Shaysite legislation, but also one anti-Shaysite, Governor Bowdoin, requested that federal troops come in to control the uprising. Although the legislation for troops was passed, the government had trouble getting together the funds and the recruits to form it. So the merchants and Governor Bowdoin decided to fund the army. Benjamin Lincoln, the leader of this army, helped to convince many other merchants to join in backing this effort to eradicate the rebellion. The government’s increasing hostility and violence towards the farmers caused them to escalate to a more radical approach in their rebellion. The farmers’ major plans was to overthrow the state government through a series of battles. The three major battles of Springfield, Petersham, and Sheffield featured a major defeat by the government over the farmers. These defeats led to the slow decline of the rebellion. The ratification of the United States Constitution followed relatively soon after the rebellion ended. Massachusetts followed their habit of opposing government and attempted to prevent the document from being ratified. Many of the other New England states desired a stronger national government to better control outbreaks such as Shay’s Rebellion. Eventually the United States Constitution would be passed largely in part because of the fear instilled by Shay’s