During early America riot and rebellion were an everyday happening. With these rebellions trigging many different political, economic, and social situations, early America was a hectic place. But in this essay I will be only focusing on the social impact these rebellions had on politics. With many riots to choose from, I will be talking about three of the major ones, Shays’ Rebellion, the Whiskey Rebellion, and Tecumseh’s Rebellion.
Shays’ Rebellion, led by Daniel Shays, was an example of the revolution spirit in the New England states. Daniel Shays was a tenet farmer, as well as a former soldier in the Revolutionary War, who was wounded in action. Fighting in Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill, Shays was never paid back for his service in the army. Along with Shays, many other soldiers were in the same boat. They were not happy with this so they decided to take things up with the government. But at the time the government had no money to give out, they were in debt because of the revolution. These former soldiers took up arms against the government to get their payment, and 20 rebels were killed by the militia brought in. Over 1,000 more rebels were captured. The government was terrified of the revolutionary spirit of the people at the time.
The Whiskey Rebellion was another huge uprising against the government at the time. At the time the US was 75 million dollar debt, and there was no way for Congress to pay it off. So Hamilton made a tax plan to put a tax a distilled liquors. Farmers from all across the country distilled liquor rather than sell their crops because it was cheaper to make liquor. George Washington and his cabinet called in a militia, led by Washington, to calm the rebels down. This rebellion proved that the Constitution gave the president more power and once again the rebellious nature of America frightened the government.
Tecumseh’s rebellion was a “war” between the United States and an American Indian confederacy led by the Shawnee leader Tecumseh. This “war” continued into the War of 1812. Also this was considered one of the origins to the War of 1812. This war continued until the Battle of Tippecanoe, which was considered the death blow to Tecumseh’s confederacy. This Also this victory boasted William Harrison into the presidency.
In a time of rebellion and riots, early America was continually to figure out what rules they could make and what they couldn’t do. After the Revolution, the government was doing a lot of guess and check of what they could and couldn’t do. All of these events help shape the Constitution. These rebellions also brought people up into higher ranked jobs and on the flip side, bring people down.