Shays' Rebellion and Forty Acres
As this house was one of the more prominent estates in western Massachusetts from before the birth of this country until almost the 20th century, one would imagine it had some influence or connection to the significant historical events in the region, including revolts and revolutions. Shays’ Rebellion, which is considered the most significant military intervention in western Massachusetts, had multiple connections to Forty Acres, including two men with two very different perspectives on the altercation.
America's massive war debt, accumulated during the Revolution, proved an important factor leading to Shays’ Rebellion. The cost of financing the war, including monetary incentives for soldiers who fought in the revolution and loans from the federal treasury, left Massachusetts with a staggering amount of debt-- $41,500,000 to be exact (with a current day worth of over one billion dollars) . To make matters worse, a trade embargo imposed by Great Britain barred the newly formed nation from the important British West Indies trade route. Consequently, merchants could not form vital trade partnerships that were necessary to finance a new country. This exacerbated the ongoing recession, while state and federal debts likewise resisted mitigation.
As a result, the federal government raised the taxes to a crippling level-- the tax rate ballooned by over 1000% between 1774 and 1786 . To combat this, most states printed and issued more paper money to get the economy flowing again and allow farmers to pay off their debts, or excuse them all together. Massachusetts, however, decided to follow through with these taxes , and furthermore wanted all debts to be repaid in the same currency as they were borrowed-- strictly gold and silver . Prior to the war, the economy of western Massachusetts depended on an extensive bartering system, and thus many people lacked universal material currency. When taxes grew astronomically following the Revolution, the populations in western Massachusetts who had relied on a bartering economy found themselves with little gold or silver to pay them .
In Western Massachusetts, the courts were flooded with foreclosures from farmers, many of whom fought in the war, and immediately people gathered to storm the courts. Their goal was to stop or hinder these court proceedings by intimidating the judges. Daniel Shays, a farmer from Pelham, Massachusetts and former soldier in the American Revolution, emerged as the leader of this revolution . Along with Shays and local militias, many community supporters also gathered at these courts, including former owner and operator of Forty Acres, Charles Phelps. However, he was in support of the courts and militia as opposed to Shays. Elizabeth Porter Phelps noted multiple times in her diary how her husband “set out for Springfield” to “uphold the court” in both 1782 and in 1786 . Charles' presence would be expected at these rebellions as he was very tightly connected with the local government; he had been reelected twenty times as a local selectman and also served as the deputy to the General Court in Boston in 1780. Charles’ frequent trips to Boston to trade cattle equipped him well with gold, silver, and paper money. This set him apart from his neighbors as his government ties and financial security allowed him not to feel the effects of these taxes and recession as much as others .
Charles Phelps was also present in 1786 at a very significant court closing in Springfield- the last one until the final meeting of the two sides in January. This is unsurprising given the large audience this exchange, which affected almost everyone in the area, attracted. Either they supported the rebellion, or, like Phelps, supported the government. On this day, September 26, 1786, Daniel Shays reportedly led a large group of nearly 600 to the Springfield courthouse where they attempted to interrupt another court hearing, something they had done succesfully in five other Massachusetts towns that summer. Aiming to protest peacefully, Daniel Shays attempted to make a deal with General William Shepard to allow the protestors into the courthouse and to have many foreclosures thrown out; however, Shays’ requests were far outside of Shepard’s control, and no deal was made. However, the two men agreed to let the “Shaysites” protest outside the courthouse, if they agreed not to attack the militia or the judges residing inside . This bittersweet end failed to satisfy either side, and soon enough they would meet again in a bloody exchange.
The protest at the Springfield courthouse on September 27th, 1786
By late January 1787, the Massachusetts government sensed that an attack on the arsenal in Springfield by Shays' forces was imminent. To combat this, Governor James Bowdoin asked General Benjamin Lincoln to aid General Shepard and the militia in Springfield, where he would arrive on January 20th. Lincoln was a recently retired revolutionary war hero who was handicapped in battle with a gunshot to the knee, but still led many armies into battle and was even present with George Washington when Cornwallis officially surrendered to America. After the war, he served as the first Secretary of War under the Articles of Confederation; however, he retired soon after and resided in Hingham . Benjamin Lincoln also brings the second link between Shays’ Rebellion and Forty Acres: his great granddaughter, Hannah Dane Sargent, would marry Frederic Dan Huntington . Even though Phelps and Lincoln were strangers then and never met each other, they each supported the same cause. This presents a fascinating example of how the connections of Forty Acres stretch incredibly far.
General Benjamin Lincoln
Generals Lincoln and Shepard were well prepared on the day of January 25, 1787 as they had been guarding the Springfield arsenal for days in anticipation of the Shaysites’ attack. Again, Charles Phelps assisted their forces, predominantly by providing supplies and food on multiple occasions. Elizabeth recounts in her diary how on January 14th, he brought the meat of two slaughtered oxen to the militia men at Springfield . Despite superior numbers, Shays' forces of over 1400 were easily defeated by the 1200 men guarding the arsenal. As the militia were posted up in front of the building and waiting for the advancement, it allowed them to easily fire upon the approaching forces. Additionally, as this was in mid January in Massachusetts, Shays and his men faced nearly four feet of snow as they attempted to “storm” the arsenal. A cannon was fired, followed by muskets from many of the militia, which as a result scattered Shays and his army . In the following days, Lincoln and the militia continued to push Shays and rebel forces back until January 30th, where Lincoln and the militia had moved northward to Hadley. Here, he attempted one last time to convince Shays to stand down, and yet again Shays refused and pulled his men back to their headquarters in Petersham. Just days later on February 3rd and 4th, Lincoln and the militia struck at the headquarters, dissolving Shays’ revolutionary forces once and for all .
The scene of January 25th, 1787 at the Springfield arsenal
Even though this rebellion was defeated quite anticlimactically, it still left an incredibly lasting effect on the United States as a whole. Shays’ Rebellion successfully got the attention of the federal government and pushed them to centralize legislative power in hopes to prevent similar rebellions through restricting such excessive taxes, offering more support to local militias and easing the rules set upon the state governments that limited their power to shut down these uprisings. Subsequently, this pushed the US to move past the Articles of Confederation which lacked the ability to have a strong central government, and move onto the Constitution which strengthened the federal powers and allowed states more power over their citizens. Additionally, the state government of Massachusetts also lessened taxes and forgave many people's debts. Even though Charles Phelps and Benjamin Lincoln were fighting for the opposite side of these results, they most likely would still be in favor of how things turned out. As Benjamin Lincoln was a prominent member of the revolutionary army and Charles Phelps was linked to the revolution in many ways, they were both sympathetic towards the movement led by Daniel Shays. Benjamin Lincoln was a fan of liberty, and he was most certainly not against men like Daniel Shays who were fighting in its name, just as he had less than ten years prior. He too agreed with always questioning authority, and if these taxes were to affect him, there's a good chance he too would have participated in the Rebellion. However, Lincoln was a well-paid retired war general living in Hingham, Massachusetts, where the bartering system was not as universal; he had sufficient gold and silver to pay off the problematic taxes. Yet again, Forty Acres and those who passed through it serve as a wonderful perspective for American history, in this instance giving two views of one of the most prominent military encounters in Massachusetts’ history.
Work Cited
“Benjamin Lincoln Papers.” Massachusetts Historical Society. Accessed August 9, 2021. https://www.masshist.org/collection-guides/view/fa0254.
Shays' Rebellion - Historic Scenes. Springfield Technical Community College. Accessed August 9, 2021. http://shaysrebellion.stcc.edu/shaysapp/scenes/home.do.
Carlisle, Elizabeth Pendergast. Earthbound and Heavenbent: Elizabeth Porter Phelps and Life at Forty Acres (1747-1817). New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004.
Ladenberg, Thomas. “Paper Money and Shays’ Rebellion.”Chapter in Critical Issues and Simulations Units in American History. Accessed August 9, 2021. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/teachers/lesson_plans/lesson_plan_ladenburg.cfm.
Weir, Robert E., ed.Benjamin Lincoln at 40 Acres: An Exhibit to Commemorate the Bicentennial of the Shays Rebellion.