USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Amherst > The history of the town of Amherst, Massachusetts, pt 1 > Part 16
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STATE AND PRIVATE INDEBTEDNESS.
war taxes were heavy, but when peace came, instead of a lightening of the burden there was an increase that made it greater than the people could .bear. In addition to the public debt, there had been during the war an alarming increase in private indebtedness. The confusion of the times had excused or prevented many persons from fulfilling their private con- tracts. This public and private indebtedness and the means taken for satisfying the same were potent among the causes of a series of public disturbances which culminated in what was known as the "Shays' Rebellion."
It is not intended in these pages to give an extended narrative of this insurrection, peculiar in many of its features and resulting most dis- astrously to those who engaged in it, but Amherst was the scene of many of its incidents and Amherst men took part in it, giving it a legitimate place in the town's history. The operations of the insurgents extended throughout Massachusetts and into other states, but the following narra- tion relates principally to events that occured in this immediate vicinity. The facts as given are mainly derived from "The History of the Insurrec- tions in Massachusetts, in the year 1786, and the Rebellion Consequent Thereon," written by George Richards Minot, A. M., and printed at Wor- cester in the year 1788, soon after the close of the rebellion. The incidents of local character are derived from reliable sources.
When the war of the Revolution began, the entire debt of Massachu- setts was less than £100,000 ; at its conclusion the private state debt was upwards of £1,300,000, and the state's proportion of the federal debt not less than £1,500,000 ; besides this there was owing to the officers and soldiers who had served in the armies £250,000, making a total of over £3,000,000. The raising of the interest upon this sum, enormous as it was then considered, to say nothing of any payment upon the principal, was a problem that taxed to the utmost the wisdom of a people as yet but little versed in matters of finance.
The people were prejudiced against laying taxes on foreign imports and also against excise, or internal revenue taxation, believing such methods opposed to the spirit of republican government ; but the exigencies of the times caused compliance with the resolution of Congress for levying a general import duty of five per cent. Soon after the close of the war there was a great increase in the importation of articles of foreign manufacture ; the exports, in comparison, were small, and the balance of trade being largely against the states, the difference had to be paid in specie, causing an alarming decrease in the circulating medium of the country. Private contracts were first made to give way to the payment of public taxes, owing to an idea that the scarcity of specie did not admit of the payment of both. The former, therefore, were made payable in other property than
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
money, by an act passed July 3, 1782, commonly known as the " Tender Act." By this it was provided that executions issued for private demands might be satisfied by neat cattle, or articles particularly enumerated, at an appraisement of impartial men under oath. The operations of this act proved most unsatisfactory and the following year it was repealed. The scarcity of coin naturally suggested a further increase in the paper cur- rency. Great quantities of this medium were still in circulation, having been issued during the war. The delinquency in the payment of taxes had obliged the state treasurer to anticipate them by issuing orders upon the collectors ; these orders had accumulated to a large amount, and became a kind of currency at a depreciated value. With the paper money already in circulation constantly lessening in value, it would seem that common sense as well. as common honesty would have protested against any further increase of this unsecured indebtedness. In these, as in later times, there were speculators who availed themselves of the necessities of government to add to their private gain. They purchased securities at a great discount. risking the chance that the government would keep faith with its creditors. These speculators were held in great public contempt, and it soon became a common observation that the government ought not to be compelled to pay full value for what had been purchased at a discount. The General Court was urged to avail itself of this depreciation for the benefit of the com- monwealth ; to the everlasting credit of Massachusetts let it be recorded that the attempts of these "readjusters " of the public debt failed com- pletely. Another proposition that was made, and favored with consider- able enthusiasm, was that a considerable quantity of paper money should be issued and, to avoid any difficulty in redeeming it, that it might be by law depreciated, at fixed rates, in certain given periods, until at a suitable time the whole should be extinguished. The fact that such a proposition should be seriously considered, and brought before the General Court, shows most clearly to what desperate straits the finances of the people had come.
At the close of the war a vast number of suits were pending before the civil courts ; these afforded employment for the lawyers whose numbers rapidly increased. The debtor class, a majority in every community, was compelled to expend large sums of money in fees for the lawyers and in costs of court. At that time imprisonment for debt, a barbarous custom imported from England, was sanctioned by law in Massachusetts. The people, impoverished through their devotion to the cause of liberty, were unable to pay their debts, and found their remaining property subject to confiscation and themselves liable to imprisonment at the behest of their creditors enforced by the court's decision. Small wonder that they began to look with aversion upon lawyers as a class, and to regard the courts as
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I2I
MOB LAW AT NORTHAMPTON.
instruments of oppression. So strong became the antagonism against members of the legal profession, they were in many instances excluded from the House of Representatives. The action of the courts was freely criticized and frequent complaints were urged against the entire judicial system of the state.
From criticism to hostile action was but an easy step. In April, 1782, a mob assembled at Northampton of sufficient force to disturb the holding of the supreme judicial court and the court of common pleas. This mob was raised and led by Samuel Ely, an "irregular " preacher, who had acted as a minister of the Gospel several years at Somers, Conn. Holland, in his History of Western Massachusetts, describes Ely as " a vehement, brazen-faced declaimer, abounding in his hypocritical pretensions to pity, and an industrious sower of discord." A council of ministers had com- pelled him to leave his parish at Somers, and he removed to Northampton. For his connection with the mob at Northampton he was arrested, and pleading guilty to the indictment against him, was condemned to a term of imprisonment in Springfield. While under sentence, a mob assembled and released him. Three persons, who were considered ringleaders in the rescue, were arrested and imprisoned at Northampton. Another mob gathered to effect their release. The militia, 1200 strong, gathered under the command of Gen. Elihu Porter, sheriff of the county, to defend the jail. The insurgents, 300 strong, under Capt. Reuben Dickinson, assembled in Hatfield and sent a demand to Gen. Porter that the three men should be delivered up forthwith. This demand was acceded to in so far that the three men were released upon their parole of honor. The General Court, at its session held the following November, pardoned every man concerned in the riot except Ely.
As early as 1781, conventions began to be held in Western Massachu- setts to consult upon the real and fancied grievances of the people. The first mention of these conventions found in the Amherst records is under date of Jan. 25, 1782, when Elijah Baker and Joseph Eastman were chosen " to go to Shutesbury on the 30th of January to meet the Towns that meet there." Aug. 6 of the same year, John Billings, Elijah Baker and Martin Kellogg were appointed delegates to a county convention held at Hatfield. Jan. 20, 1783, Amherst voted to pay the delegates to these two conven- tions three shillings per day for their services and an additional sum for horse-hire. A convention was held at Deerfield, Sept. 29, 1783, and one at Hatfield, Oct. 20 of the same year. At some, if not all, of these con- ventions, petitions were drawn up and forwarded to the General Court, relating the grievances of the people and praying their redress by legislation.
Between the years 1783 and 1786, there was little change for the better in the financial condition of the people. Taxes continued to be
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
high and the means for paying them was no more abundant. During this period, however, there are recorded no efforts to interfere with the sittings of the courts. August 22, 1786, a convention of delegates from 50 towns in Hampshire county assembled at Hatfield, and after voting that the meeting was constitutional, drew up a paper containing a long list of grievances, supplemented with recommendations to the towns in the county and their inhabitants. These grievances included, among others, the existence of the Senate, the mode of representation, the existence of the courts of common pleas and general sessions, the supplementary aid (granted to the national government), the mode adopted for the payment and speedy collection of the last tax, the mode of taxation, as it operated unequally between polls and estates, and between landed and mercantile interests, the method of practice of the attorneys at law, the want of a sufficient medium of trade, to remedy the mischief arising from the scarcity of money, the embarrassments of the press, and the neglect of the settle- ment of important matters. depending between the Commonwealth and Congress, relating to monies and averages. The leading recommendations were an enmission of paper money subject to a depreciation, a revision of the constitution, and an immediate assembly of the General Court that the grievances complained of might be redressed. It was also voted "That this convention recommend it to the inhabitants of this county, that they abstain from all mobs and unlawful assemblies, until a constitutional method of redress can be obtained." Copies of the proceedings of this conven- tion were to be transmitted to the conventions of the counties of Worces- ter and Berkshire ; a copy was also to be sent to the press in Springfield for publication.
It is hardly possible to conceive of a more severe arraignment of the existing government than was contained in this list of grievances. The executive, legislative and judicial departments were in turn condemned, and a condition of affairs predicated which, had it really existed, would have justified a second revolution. It must be borne in mind that this paper was not the product of a gathering of irresponsible malcontents, but of delegates selected by the towns they came from and doubtless fully competent to represent the views of a majority of the inhabitants of those towns. Whatever its subject matter, therefore, it carried it with the weight of opinion of Hampshire county. . It held the government up to public contempt ; small wonder, then, that individuals should lose respect for institutions that collectively they had condemned. Aug. 29, four days after the convention had adjourned, was the day appointed for the sitting of the court of common pleas and general sessions of the peace at Northamp- ton. On that date a large mob gathered from the various towns in the county and took possession of the grounds surrounding the court-house
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123'
INTERFERENCE WITH THE COURTS.
where the court had already assembled. The numbers of this mob were- estimated by Minot at some 1500 ; the papers of the day and vicinity give a considerably smaller estimate. Many of the mob were armed with. muskets and swords, and they took no pains to conceal their object, which was to prevent a sitting of the courts. A messenger was despatched to the justices, politely informing them that, as the people labored under divers. grievances, it was " inconvenient " that the court should sit for the trans- action of business, until there was an opportunity for redress. The officers. of the court were not slow to understand the meaning contained in these politic words and adjourned the court without day; the mob thereupon retired and quietly dispersed. Among those who took part in the gather- ing at Northampton which prevented the sitting of the courts was a party of men from Amherst led by Lieut. Joel Billings. In the manuscript ar- chives at the state-house in Boston is a paper which states, " Lieut. Billings came in at the head of his party with his Sword Drawn & his men mostly armed with guns, cutlasses, etc."
On being notified of this violation of the laws, Governor James Bow- doin promptly issued a proclamation calling on the officers and citizens of the Commonwealth to suppress such treasonable proceedings; but the mischief had been accomplished. On the week succeeding the demonstra- tion at Northampton, occurred the day for opening the courts of common pleas and general sessions at Worcester. Here, as at Northampton, a mob of armed men assembled and prevented the sitting of the courts. Similar outrages were committed at Great Barrington and at Concord during the month of September. At Great Barrington, three of the four justices were compelled to sign an obligation that they would not act under their commissions until the grievances complained of should be redressed ; the jail also was broken open and the debtors confined there released. A proclamation had been issued by Gov. Bowdoin for assembling the General Court in October, but owing to the riots throughout the state the date was changed to Sept. 27.
CHAPTER XVIII.
CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE SUPREME COURT .- DANIEL SHAYS .- ACTION. BY THE GENERAL COURT .- MILITIA CALLED OUT .- BLOODSHED AT SPRINGFIELD .- RETREAT OF THE INSURGENTS.
Thus far the demonstrations of the insurgents had been directed against the inferior courts ; in attacking these, the rioters had made them- selves liable to indictment for high misdemeanor. In order to shield them-
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
.selves from this danger, they determined to prevent the sitting of the supreme judicial court. This court was to open at Springfield on Tues- day, Sept. 26. The government anticipated trouble and made arrange- ments to protect the court in the exercise of its functions. Gov. Bowdoin ordered that the court-house should be taken possession of by 600 men under command of Major Gen. William Shepard. On the Saturday even- ing preceding the opening day, 120 men assembled at the court-house and quietly took possession ; by Tuesday their numbers had arisen to 300 or more. Minot says, "This party was well officered and equipped, and contained the most respectable characters for abilities and interest, in the county of Hampshire." The insurgents also gathered, and by Tuesday morning they were fully equal to the government party in numbers, but greatly inferior in officers and arms.
At this time the man whose misfortune as well as fault it was to lend a name to the insurrection first assumed prominence in its affairs. Daniel Shays was born in Hopkinton in the county of Middlesex in 1747. His parents were very poor, so poor as to have depended in some instances upon their neighbors for the necessities of life. He had but little educa- tion, going to work at an early age for a farmer in Framingham. He after- wards lived for a time at Great Barrington, removing from there to Pelham. At the age of 28, on the breaking out of the war of the Revolution, he entered the service of his country, with the rank of ensign. At the battle of Bunker Hill he served in the regiment of Col. Ruggles Woodbridge of South Hadley, within the intrenchments. In 1776, he was appointed a lieutenant in Col. Varnum's regiment and was detached on recruiting service. He enlisted a company of men, whose engagement to serve was based on the condition that he should be their captain. He was allowed the pay of a captain, from January, 1777, but a commission was not issued to him until 1779. He did gallant service at the storming of Stony Point and in the compaign that resulted in the surrender of Burgoyne.' He was in Col. Putnam's regiment at Newark. N. J., when in October, 17So, he was discharged from service. He was a brave man, ambitious. of good appearance and pleasing address, but seemingly utterly devoid of principle. He found it easy to enlist men for carrying out his projects however vision- ary, and was thoroughly unscrupulous as to the means employed in attain- ing his purposes. Such a man was the natural leader of the discontented. rebellious victims of a state of public and private affairs for which they held others to be blamed. Associated with Shays was Luke Day of Spring- field, who had been commissioned as captain at the outbreak of the Rev- olution and had served honorably throughout the war. He was a demagog and a braggart, a fitting associate for Shays. Neither had military abilities suitable to a high command.
125
RIOTING AT SPRINGFIELD.
The insurgents were greatly incensed at the government for having- taken possession of the court-house before their arrival. They sent a request to the judges that none who had engaged in the recent riots should be indicted, but the judges replied they should execute the laws of the country agreeable to their oaths. But the court was unable to transact business ; on Wednesday the panel of jurors not being filled, those jury- men who appeared were dismissed. On Thursday the court adjourned, after resolving that it was not expedient to proceed to the county of Berk- shire. Captain Shays who commanded the insurgents paraded his men through the streets of Springfield and sent insolent demands to the court,. and to Col. Burt, who commanded the government forces in Gen. Shepard's absence ; the latter, desirous of avoiding bloodshed, allowed the rioters to parade, and, after the court's adjournment, when the government troops. marched to the defence of the arsenal, the rioters were allowed to occupy the ground on which the troops had been stationed. On Friday the rioters · disbanded, satisfied with what they had accomplished. It is probable that. there were Amherst men under the command of Shays at Springfield, but. there are no records in existence from which their names may be ascer- tained. Of the government forces, there was an Amherst company com- manded by Capt. Moses Cook, which " served in Defence of Government at Springfield in September, 1786 "; the following were members of this company : Moses Cook, captain ; Elijah Hastings, Joseph Pettis, Samuel Boltwood, Silas Billings, Stoughton Dickinson, Eleazer Boltwood, Solomon Boltwood, Levy Cook, David Trowbridge, Zechariah Field, Martin Cook. They served seven days and their pay-roll amounted to $11, 15. 9. Ebenezer Mattoon, Jr. also served with the government forces for nineteen days and received £9, 3, 4.
September 27, the Legislature assembled, and Governor Bowdoin in. an address from the chair made a statement regarding the disturbances that had taken place and the measures he had taken to quell them. The: address was referred to a joint committee, which submitted a report express- ing abhorrence of the proceedings against the judicial courts, approving the governor's conduct in raising the militia for their defence, promising to pay those who had been or should be called into service, recommending a revival of the militia law, promising an examination into and redress of all grievances, and providing that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus should be suspended for a limited time. This report was adopted by the Senate, and the House agreed to all but the habeas corpus clause, which was recommitted. A riot act was also passed, providing that all offenders who should continue for the space of an hour their combinations, after the act had been read to them, should have their property subject to confisca- tion and be liable to a penalty of thirty-nine stripes and imprisonment for
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
not more than one year. These proceedings served to alarm and anger Shays, and he sent a copy of the following letter to the selectmen of the towns in Hampshire county :
"PELHAM, Oct. 23, 1786.
GENTLEMEN :-- By information from the General Court, they are determined to call all those who appeared to stop the Court, to condign punishment. There- fore, I request you to assemble your men together, to see that they are well armed and equipped, with sixty rounds each man, and to be ready to turn out at a minute's warning; likewise to be properly organized with officers.
DANIEL SHAYS."
In spite of the action by governor and Legislature, the disturbances .continued and increased in violence. Inflammatory appeals to the people by the insurgents were published in the press of Western Massachusetts. The court of general sessions at Worcester was unable to transact any business in November, owing to the interference of a large body of armed insurgents ; the court sessions at Springfield in December had to be given up from similar cause. The rioters having met with the most pronounced success in the western counties, determined to confine their operations to that section. A committee of seventeen was appointed to raise and organize a large force of men in Hampshire county : among the members of this committee were Capt. Shays of Pelham and Capt. Billings of Amherst. The form of enlistment used in recruiting these forces was as follows :
"We do Each one of us acknowledge our Selves to be Inlisted into a Company .Commanded by Capt. - & Lieut Bullard & in Colo Hazeltons Regiment of Regulators in Order for the Suppressing of tyrannical government in the Massachusetts State, And we do Ingage to obey Such orders as we Shal Reseeve from time to-to time from our Superior officers, and to faithfully Serve for the term of three months from the Date in Witness hereof we have hereunto Set our names-the Conditions of Will Be for a Sarg' Sixty Shillings Pr Month Cop1 Fifty Shillings a Month Privet Forty Shillings a Month and if git the Day their will be a Consedrable Bounty Ither Forty or Sixty Pounds."
There is no record to show how the insurgents expected to raise the money to satisfy these " conditions ": owing to circumstances over which they had no control the bounty was never paid. The insurgents gathered at Worcester in December, where the courts met and adjourned, agreeably to the governor's instructions, until January : the courts at Springfield were also adjourned, as Shays and his men had taken possession of the court- house, and sent a petition, equivalent to a command, that they should not proceed with business. News of these proceedings reached the governor, and, the General Court not being in session, the Council advised that 4,400 men should be raised at once for protecting the courts and punishing violations of the law. Of this number, 700 were to be raised in Suffolk
127
WARRANT FOR ARREST OF INSURGENT LEADERS.
county, 500 in Essex, 800 in Middlesex, 1200 in Hampshire and 1200 in Worcester. These troops were to be raised for 30 days and the command of the whole was given to Major General Benjamin Lincoln ; those from Hampshire county were ordered to assemble at Springfield on the 18th of January. On the 12th of January the governor issued an address to the people of the Commonwealth, relating the circumstances that had com- pelled the calling out of the militia, and urging all good citizens to cooperate with the government in restoring peace and harmony within the borders of the state. Jan. 19, a warrant was issued by Governor Bowdoin, addressed to the sheriff of Hampshire county, for the apprehension of Capt. Asa Fish of South Brimfield, Capt. Alpheus Colton of Longmeadow, Luke Day and Elijah Day of West Springfield. Capt. Gad Sacket of Westfield. Capt. Aaron Jewell of Chesterfield, Capt. John Brown of Whately, Samuel Moore of Worthington, Daniel Shays of Pelham, Joseph Hinds of Green- wich, Capt. Joel Billings of Amherst, Obed Foot of Greenfield, Capt. Abel Dinsmore of Conway, Capt. Matthew Clark of Coleraine, Capt. Samuel Hill of Charlemont, Capt. Thomas Grover of Montague, and John Powers of Shutesbury. This warrant was not returned until April 4, when Sheriff Eleazer Porter endorsed it to the effect that he had apprehended and committed to jail Colton, Clark and Brown ; the rest he had not been able to take except Joel Billings, " but he being under the sanction of a Flagg was released by order of Genl Lincoln." At a meeting held Jan. 12, Amherst appointed a committee to draw up a petition to the General Court, stating the grievances of the people and suggesting measures for their alleviation. The petition was drawn up and adopted at a meeting held a week later.
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