ABRAHAM BALDWIN.
Attest: WILLIAM JACKSON, Secretary.
1. Footnote: "Life of Washington," p. 389.
2. Footnote: "Men and Times of the Revolution, or Memoirs of Elkanah Watson."
3. Footnote: Marshall, "Life of Washington."
4. Footnote: It is a very interesting fact that the proposition in which the Convention that formed the Constitution originated should have been made at Mount Vernon, in Washington's presence, if not by himself. As Faneuil Hall is called the Cradle of Liberty, Mount Vernon may be regarded as the Cradle of the Constitution.
5. Footnote: The occasion and effect of this insurrection, commonly called Shay's Rebellion, are thus described by a recent writer. The jealousy felt toward the statesmen of the Republic, or toward the upper by the middle class—if the terms may be allowed—was likely to operate fatally in marring the project of a Constitution, and rendering any innovation for the purpose impracticable; since the dissentient States were resolved not to choose delegates, or accede to the desire of Virginia.
These democratic opinions of the middle classes, however, and the resolutions founded upon them, were eventually shaken and overturned by the extreme to which they were carried by the lower orders. These were no sooner inspired by the same political feelings, than, after their fashion, they rose in insurrection; bade defiance not only to Congress, but to the State authorities themselves; and, collecting in armed bands, threatened to effect a serious revolution by taking law and property into their own hands. The New England States, principally Massachusetts, were the scenes of these disorders, which took place toward the close of 1786.
A body of 2,000 men, assembled in the northwestern region of the State, chose one of their number, Daniel Shay, for leader. They asked for suspension of taxes, and the remission of paper money; but it was known that their favorite scheme was that of an agrarian law—a general division of property. Respectable classes were, of course, thrown into alarm; Congress recovered a portion of that vigor which had marked it during the war; troops were dispatched, under General Lincoln and other officers, against the insurgents; and the citizens of the New England towns forgot their late jealousy of the military so far as to join them in the task of putting down their domestic foes. Funds were raised by private subscription to supply the emptiness of the public treasury; and an efficient force was enabled to march, in the midst of winter, against the insurgents, who were soon dispersed and reduced.
The rebellion thus suppressed was productive of the most salutary result. The middle classes, terrified at the exaggeration of their own doctrines, and at the risk of exciting the mob as supporters, rallied universally to the support of Congress.