Shay's Rebellion Chapter Summaries

Shay’s Rebellion was about a rebellion against the state of Massachusetts and their taxation methods. After the Revolutionary War, Massachusetts was in heavy debt. To pay it off as quickly as possible, the state raised taxes. Farmers could not afford the raise in tax because they had so much debt accumulated during the Revolutionary War. The farmers thought their best decision was to rebel against the state instead of paying their taxes and debts back. After two years of fighting, Shaysites, the name the rebels went by, were crushed by General Benjamin Lincoln in 1787. I think the author wrote this book because there were so many other books missing information about the people involved in the rebellion, even when it was filed, that he finally wanted an accurate book that included all the people that participated for people to read. I think the author is arguing that not only poor farmers were part of the rebellion but all classes and that this …show more content…
The structure was well organized because he stated his main idea, Shay’s rebellion. Then he proceeded to break his explanation of the rebellion into seven different parts. The organization helps build on his main idea by separating it into 7 different details that he could elaborate on. The first chapter was before the rebellion started, the second was what lead up to the rebellion, and then he wrote about the events of shay’s rebellion. Finally, at the end he explains the aftermath of the rebellion. The chapter that best explained the author’s ideas was chapter 1, Defiance. This chapter set the mood of the story and introduces a majority of the characters. Since many individuals that participated in the rebellion are missing from other books or textbooks this chapter makes this book stand out. The author was going for a more accurate story on Shay’s rebellion and chapter 1 was the part of the book that stood out and contributed the most towards the author’s