Shays' Rebellion After the American Revolution unsettled economic conditions and a severe depression tore the young nation. Paper money was in circulation, but little of it was honored at face value. Merchants and other "sound money" men wanted currencies with gold backing. In Massachusetts the "sound money" men were property owners and controlled the government. Most of those who were harmed by the depression were without property and thus unable to vote. Conflict between these …showed first 75 words of 582 total…

…showed last 75 words of 582 total…century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.” Thomas Jefferson (1743­1826), U.S. president. Letter, 13 Nov. 1787, referring to Daniel Shays’s rebellion of poor farmers in Massachusetts. Jefferson, writing from Paris, was the only one of the American leaders not alarmed by news of the revolt. Bibliography: Feidel, F., and May, E., eds., Shays's Rebellion (1989); Kaufman, M., ed.,