What was Washington's opinion on Shay's Rebellion?

On January 25, 1787, Daniel Shays and his insurrectionists confronted a Massachusetts state militia force outside the Springfield armory. Shays’ Rebellion had begun in the summer of 1786, when Shays, a former Continental Army captain, and other western Massachusetts veterans and farmers formed an insurrection against the government for failing to address their economic grievances. Upon the confrontation at the Springfield armory, the state militia forced Shays and his followers to retreat to Worcester County, where they would be dispersed on February 4, leading to the end of the rebellion.

On February 3, George Washington wrote to Henry Knox, conveying his thoughts on both the recent rebellion in Massachusetts and the Philadelphia Convention. Of Shays’ Rebellion, Washington wrote, “if three years ago any person had told me that at this day, I should see such a formidable rebellion against the laws & constitutions of our own making as now appears I should have thought him a bedlamite - a fit subject for a mad house.” He wrote that if the government “shrinks, or is unable to enforce its laws . . . anarchy & confusion must prevail.”

Washington did not wish to attend the Philadelphia Convention because he doubted what might be accomplished. He admitted that “powers are wanting” in government but wondered how such powers would be derived. He commented on Knox’s plan for building a central national government, calling it “energetic, and I dare say, in every point of view is more desirable than the present one.” However, pressure from friends like Knox, associates, and fellow Virginians such as James Madison and Virginia Governor Edmund Randolph—as well as Washington’s intention to “do for the best, and to act with propriety”—led the future president to attend the convention.

superior technology and improved medical knowledge to foster imperialism. quinine enabled europeans

to survive tropical diseases and venture into the mosquito-infested interiors of africa and asia. the combination

of the steamboat and the telegraph enabled the western powers to increase their mobility and to quickly respond

to any situations that threatened their dominance. the rapid-fire machine gun also gave them a military advantage

and was in convincing africans and asians to accept western control. the following table summarizes the

causes of the new imperialism:

causes of new imperialism

economic military/political humanitarian/religious technological

need for markets need for military bases white man’s burden new medicine

raw materials national security spread of christianity new weapons

source of investments source of

pride—nationalism

social darwinism

(superiority of western

society)

transportation

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