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Lesson Plan #2 in Unit: Primary Source Workshop Part One - Shays's Rebellion
AP/Honors U.S. History, 11th Grade
Unit: Forming a Nation
Topic: Establishing a Republic: Silencing Rebellion and Shaping American Political Culture
ISBE Standards Addressed
16.A.3b Make inferences about historical events and eras using historical maps and other historical sources.
16.A.4b Compare competing historical interpretations of an event.
IS.A.Sa Analyze historical and contemporary developments using methods of historical inquiry (pose
questions, collect and analyze data, make and support inferences with evidence, report findings).
16,D.3a (US) Describe characteristics of different kinds of communities in various sections of America during
the colonial/frontier periods and the 19th century.
Enduring Understanding/Rationale:
How united were Americans after the Revolutionary War? Why did people in Massachusetts take up arms
against authority in 1786? What forces were mobilized to quell them? How did some of the founders
characterize this rebellion? Students will seek answers to these questions when they engage in a primary
document review activity that exposes them to the two sides of the conflict known as "Shays's Rebellion".
Students will come to understand how this event fueled the Federalist/Antifederalist debate as the States of
America struggled to stay united before the Constitutional Convention began in 1787.
Objectives: SWBATo...
• Identify, in writing, an author's position on and claims about a historical event
• Evaluate evidence to support claims
• Recognize disparities between differing historical accounts
• Display, in writing, Historical Thinking Skills by completing Historical Reading and Corroboration graphic
organizers
• In one to two paragraphs, respond to the essential question "How fragile was the nation at its
inception" and make an argument either for or against Shays's Rebellion by using at least two piece of
evidence from their readings.
Materials: PC, Projector, Handouts: Primary Source Documents (5); Historical Reading Questions and Prompts
Guide; Corroboration Graphic Organizer; Graphic Organizers (2)
24 students; 75 minute session
F e n w i c k L e s s o n T w o P a g e | 2
Procedure
• Anticipatory Set (5 min)
o Teacher projects the following: Share your responses from exit ticket question #1, "How fragile
was the nation at its inception?" (from previous session) with a partner and write down three
things you both know about Shays's Rebellion.
o Teacher takes attendance and monitors students' progress
• Debrief the Anticipatory Set (7 min)
o Teacher asks: "So far, what the most important things we know about Shays's Rebellion?"
o Teacher solicits responses to check for understanding and writes responses on whiteboard
o Students copy responses in their notes
• Primary Source Review: Paired Historical Reading (35 min)
o Teacher passes out "Historical Reading Questions and Prompts Guide" and "Corroboration
Graphic Organizer" handouts to each student.
o Teacher numbers students "Is" and "2s".
o Teacher gives "Is" the "Rebels and Supporters of Rebellion" document set (Jogger, Gray,
Jefferson) with corresponding "Reading Historically" graphic organizer.
o Teacher gives "2s" the "Keepers of the Peace" document set (Knox, Washington) with
corresponding "Reading Historically" graphic organizer.
o Students find a colleague with the same number and pair up.
o Using the "Historical Reading Questions and Prompts Guide" [NOTE: students are familiar with
this document], student pairs read their respective document sets and work together to
complete their respective "Reading Historically" graphic organizers.
o Teacher walks around to monitor progress, check for understanding, clarify vocabulary, and
answer questions.
o Students are encouraged to annotate their texts, and "think aloud" with their partners as they
work through the primary documents.
• Primary Source Review: Corroboration Jigsaw (15 min)
o The next task is to pair up students with different document sets so they may complete the
"Corroboration Graphic Organizer",
o As students finish, the teacher pairs up "Is" and "2s" to form new pairs and gives each student
a "Corroboration Graphic Organizer" handout.
o Each new pair now shares the information gleaned from the previous reading activity (of their
respective document sets) by trading their respective "Reading Historically" graphic organizers.
o Students must now ask each other questions and work together to complete the
"Corroboration Graphic Organizer" handout,
o Teacher walks around to monitor progress, check for understanding, and answer questions.
F e n w i c k L e s s o n T w o P a g e | 3
o When a pair is finished, Teacher checks for completion of assignment by briefly interviewing
each pair.
o Teacher will assign homework assessment to pairs that finish early.
Debrief the Primary Source Review Activity (10 min)
o Elicit a variety of responses.
o Probe for consensus, disagreement.
o Ask students to use evidence to support their responses,
Assign Homework Assessment- Entry Ticket (3 min)
o As a homework assignment and entry ticket to the next class, in one to two paragraphs,
students must again respond to the essential question "How fragile was the nation at its
inception" and make an argument either for or against Shays's Rebellion. Students must use at
least two piece of evidence from their readings.
o We will share responses at the beginning of the next class.
Elements of this lesson adapted from:
Stanford History Education Group's Reading Like a Historian Curriculum http://sheg.stanford.edu/?q=node/45
Primary Documents:
Statement By Plough Jogger: The People Speak edited by Howard Zinn (2004).
A Proclamation of Shaysite Grievances (1786): For the Record Volume One - Fourth Edition, by Shi & Mayer
(2010).
Henry Knox to George Washington letter, October 23,1786: Voices of A People's History of the United States •
Second Edition, by Zinn and Amove (2009).
George Washington to Henry Knox letter, December 26,1786:
www.nps.gov/spar/historyculture/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfiie
Thomas Jefferson to William Smith letter, November 13,1787:
http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/96oct/obrlen/blood.htm
Historical Reading Questions and Prompts
Steps...
Sourcing
Questions to Answer...
• What is the author's point of view?
• Why was it written?
• When was it written?
• Is this source believable? Why? Why Not?
Prompts You May Use to Form Your Answers...
This author probably believes..,
I think the audience is...
Based on the sourcing information, I predict this author will...
I do/don't trust this document because...
Contextualization • What else was going on at the time this was written?
• What was it like to be alive at this time?
• What things were different back then? What things were thesame?
I already know that is happening at this time...
From this document I would guess that people at this time werefeeling...
This document might not give me the whole picture because ...
Close Reading • What claims does the author make?
• What evidence does the author use to support those claims?
• How is this document supposed to make me feel?
• What words or phrases does the author use to convince rne thathe/she is right?
• What information does the author leave out?
I think the author chose these words because they make me feel..
The author is trying to convince me...(by using/saying)
Corroboration What do other pieces of evidence say?
Am I finding different versions of the story? Why or why not?
What pieces of evidence are most believable?
This author agrees/ disagrees with...
This document was written earlier/later than the other, so...
Reading Historically: Rebels and Supporters of Rebellion
Steps...
Sourcing
Plough Jogger Daniel Gray Thomas Jefferson
Contextualization
Close Reading
Reading Historically: Keepers of the Peace
Steps.,.
Sourcing
Henry Knox George Washington
Contextualization
Close Reading
Reading Historically: Corroborating Primary Documents -Shays's Rebellion
Establish what is true by comparing your document set to a different document set and recognize the disparities between different accounts and opinions.
Questions...
On what points do theauthors of thesedocuments agree?
Rebels and Supporters of Rebellion Keepers of the Peace
On what points do theauthors of thesedocuments disagree?
What pieces ofevidence are mostbelievable? Why?
3 I Shays' Rebellion
NARRATOR
The American Revolution was not, as the orthodox histories
would have it, the revolt of a unified people against England.
The colonies were torn by class conflict—food riots and flour
riots, and farmers' rebellions—in the hundred years before, the
Revolution. During the Revolutionary War, conflict emerged
again, when ordinary soldiers, angered by their humiliating
treatment and the special privileges of the officers, mutinied
against George Washington. He ordered that some of them be
executed by their fellow mutineers. After the war, veterans who
had been given small amounts of land found themselves so
heavily taxed they could not meet their payments. In western
Massachusetts, thousands of farmers surrounded the
courthouses where their farms were being auctioned off and
refused to allow the courts to proceed. Eventually Shays'
Rebellion, as it was called, was crushed, but it put a scare into
the Founding Fathers, and when they met in 1787, shortly
after, to create a Constitution, they made sure to set up a
THE PEOPLE SPEAK
government strong enough to put down rebellion. These are the
words of one of the participants in Shays' Rebellion, a man
named Plough jogger,
PLOUGH JOGGER
I've labored hard all my days and fared hard. I have been
greatly abused, have been obliged to do more than my part in
the war; been loaded with class rates, town rates, province
rates, Continental rates, and all rates . . , been pulled and
hauled by sheriffs, constables and collectors, and had my cat-
tle sold for less than they were worth.
I have been obliged to pay and nobody will pay me. I have
lost a great deal by this man and that man and t'other man,
and the great men are going to get all we have, and 1 think it
is time for us to rise and put a stop to it, and have no more
courts, nor sheriffs, nor collectors, nor lawyers, and I know
that we are the biggest party, let them say what they will.
We've come to relieve the distresses of the people. There will
be no court until they have redress of their grievances.
DANIEL GRAY
FROM A Proclamation of Shaysite Grievances (1786)
In the mid 1780s western Massachusetts farmers, many of whom had supported theRevolution through military service, found their pursuit oj happiness challenged bythe fiscal policies of the state. Anxiety and anger boiled into direct action in the sum-mer of 1786 after the state legislature voted for more taxes but did not reform thestate's monetary policy. The legislature's lack of responsiveness to the westerners' prob-lems and requests reflected the political power of the eastern mercantile and creditorinterests, but it may also have been due to an earlier lack of strong, direct participa-tion in government by the westerners. The farmers set out to rectify that. Farmerswho had already suffered through foreclosure on their lands due to their inability topay taxes were joined by those who faced ruin because of the new taxes. Under such
DANIEL GRAY: FROM A Proclamation of Shaysite Grievances (1786) 149
leaders as Daniel Shays, who had been a captain in the Continental Army, the farm-ers formed their own political committees (chaired by such compatriots as DanielGray) and armed forces. They closed courts while opening their own conventions inthe counties, for they wanted to make sure that their grievances were not only heardbut acted upon. Governor James Bowdoin certainly did react, but not in the way theywanted: he first suspended habeas corpus and then called out an army.
From George R. Minot, The History of the Insurrection in Massachusetts in 1786 and of the Re-bellion Consequent Thereon (1788; New York: Da Capo Press, 1971), pp. 82-83.
Shays's Rebellion1786
1. An ADDRESS to the People of the several townsin the county of Hampshire, now at arms.
GENTLEMEN,We have thought proper to inform you of some
of the principal causes of the late risings of thepeople, and also of their present movement, viz.
1st. The present expensive mode of collectingdebts, which by reason of the great scarcity ofcash, wiO of necessity fill our gaols with unhappydebtors, and thereby a reputable body of peoplerendered incapable of being serviceable either tothemselves or the community.
2d. The monies raised by impost and excise be-ing appropriated to discharge the interest of gov-ernmental securities, and not the foreign debt,when these securities are not subject to taxation.
3d. A suspension of the writ of Habeas Corpus,by which those persons who have stepped forth toassert and maintain the rights of the people, areliable to be taken and conveyed even to the mostdistant part of the Gommonwealth, and therebysubjected to an unjust punishment.
4th. The unlimited power granted to Justices ofthe Peace and Sheriffs, Deputy Sheriffs, and Con-stables, by the Riot Act, indemnifying them to
the prosecution thereof; when perhaps, wholly ac-tuated from a principle of revenge, hatred, andenvy.
Furthermore, Be assured, that this body, now atarms, despise the idea of being instigated by Britishemissaries, which is so strenuously propagated bythe enemies of our liberties: And also wish themost proper and speedy measures may be taken, todischarge both our foreign and domestick debt.
Per Order,DANIEL GRAY,Chairman of the Committee.
The victory over England did not bring domestic peace. The class conflict that hadpreceded the Revolution, and that continued during the war in the form of mutiniesagainst Washington's army, continued after the war. In a number of the states,small farmers, many of them veterans of the war, felt oppressed by the taxes levied
on them by the state governments. In Massachusetts, farmers, seeing land and live-stock being taken away for nonpayment of taxes, organized by the thousands.They surrounded courthouses and would not let the selling off of their property con-
tinue. This was an armed revolt, taking its name from one of the leaders, CaptainDaniel Shays, a veteran of the Revolutionary War. The rebellion was finally sup-
pressed, but a number of rebels had been killed, and a few of the leaders hanged.This event caused deep worry among the Founding Fathers, who, soon after, meet-
ing in Philadelphia to draw up a new constitution, saw the need for a central gov-ernment strong enough to put down such uprisings. Massachusetts farmer PloughJogger, speaking about his grievances to one of the illegal conventions where oppo-
sition to the legislature was organized, said, "I've labored hard all my days and faredhard. I have been greatly abused, have been obliged to do more than rny part in
the war; been loaded with class rates, town rates, province rates, Continentalrates, and all rates... been pulled and hauled by sheriffs, constables and collectors,and had my cattle sold for less than they were worth. I have been obliged to pay
and nobody will pay me. I have lost a great deal by this man and that man andt'other man, and the great men are going to get all we have, and I think it is timefor us to rise and put a stop to it, and have no more courts, nor sheriffs, nor col-lectors, nor lawyers, and I know that we are the biggest party, let them say whatthey will. . . . We've come to relieve the distresses of the people. There will be no
court until they have redress of their grievances."After Shays' Rebellion, Henry Knox, the Revolutionary War artillery commander
who became the first U.S. secretary of war, wrote to his former commander, GeorgeWashington, to warn him about the goals of the rebels: "[T]hey see the weakness
of Government!,] they feel at once their own poverty compared with the opulent,and their own force, and they are determined to make use of the latter in order toremedy the former. Their creed is that that the property of the United States has beenprotected from the confiscations of Britain by the joint exertions of all, and there-
fore ought to be the common property of all," This is the full text of his letter.
Henry Knox, Letter to George Washington(October 23, 1786)'
My dear sir.1 have long intended myself the pleasure of visiting you at Mount Vernon, and
although, I have not given up that hope, and shall probably gratify it in the Courseof next month, yet 1 cannot longer delay presenting myself to the remembranceof my truly respected and beloved general, whose friendship I shall ever esteemamong the most valuable circumstances of my existence.
Conscious of affection, and I believing ir to be reciprocal in your breast, 1 havehad no apprehensions of my silence being misconstrued. I know the perplexity occa-sioned by your numerous correspondents and was unwilling to add to it. Besideswhich, I have lately been once far eastward of Boston, on private business andwas no sooner returned here, than the commotions in Massachusetts hurried meback to Boston on a public account.
Our political machine constituted of thitteen independent sovereignties, havebeen perpetually operating against each other, and against the federal head, eversince the peace—The powers of Congress are utterly inadequate to preserve thebalance between the respective States, and oblige them to do those things whichare essential for their own welfare, and for the general good. The human mind inthe local legislatures seem to be exerted, to prevent the federal constitution fromhaving any beneficial effects. The machine works inversely to the public good in
[ all its parts. Not only is State, againsr State, and all against the federal head, butthe States within themselves possess the name only without having the essentialconcomitant of government, the power of preserving the peace; the protection ofthe liberty and property of the citizens.
On me very first impression, of Faction and licentiousness the fine dieoretic gov-ernment of Massachusetts has given away and its laws arrested and trampled underfoot, Men at a distance, who have admired our systems of government, unfoundedin nature, are apt to accuse the rulers, and say that taxes have been assessed too highand collected too rigidly. This is a deception equal to any that has been hithertoentertained, It is indeed a fact, that high taxes are the ostensible cause of rhe com-motions, but that they are the real cause is as far remote from truth as lighr fromdarkness. The people who are the insurgents have never paid any, or but very lit-tle taxes—But they see the weakness of government; They feel at once their ownpoverty, compared with the opulent, and their own force, and they are determinedto make use of the latter, in order to remedy the former. Their creed is "Thar rheproperty of the United States has been protected from the confiscations of Britainby the joint exertions of all, and therefore ought to be the common property of
IO6 - CHAPTER FIVE
all. And he that attempts opposition to this creed is an enemy to equity and jus-tice, and ought to be swept oft'the face of the earth." Ina word they are determinedto annihilate all debts public and private and have agrarian Laws whkh are easilyeffected by the means of unfunded paper money which shall be a tender in allcases whatever.
The numbers of these people may amount in [Mjassachusetts to about one fifthpart of several populous counties, and to them may be collected, people of sim-ilar sentiments, from the States of Rhode Island, Connecticut and NewHampshire so as to constitute a body of 12 or 15,000 desperate and unprinci-pled men—They are chiefly of the Young and active part of the community,more easily collected than perhaps Kept together afterwards—But they will prob-ably commit overt acts of treason which will compel them to embody for theirown safety—once embodied they will be constrained to submit to discipline forthe same reason. Having proceeded to this length for which they are now ripe,we shall have a formidable rebellion against reason, the principles of all govern-ment, and against the very name of liberty, This dreadful situation has alarmedevery man of principle and property in New England—-They start as from adream, and ask what has been the Cause of our delusion? What is to afford us secu-rity against the violence of lawless men? Our government must be braced,changed, or altered to secure our lives and property. We imagined that the mild-ness of our government and the virtue of che people were so correspondent, thatwe were not as other nations requiring brutal force to support the laws-—But wefind that we are men, actual men, possessing all the turbulent passions belong-ing to that animal and that we must have a government proper and adequate forhim—The people of Massachusetts for instance, are far advanced in this doc-trine, and che men of reflection, and principle, are determined to endeavor to estab-lish a government which shall have the power to protect them in their lawfulpursuits, and which will be efficient in all cases of internal commotions or for-eign invasions—They mean that liberty shall form the basis, a. liberty resultingfrom the equal and firm administration of the laws. They wish for a general gov-ernment of unity as they see that the local legislatures, must naturally and nec-essarily tend to retard general government.
We have arrived at that point of time in which we are forced to see our nationalhumiliation, and that a progression in this line, cannot be productive of happi-ness either private or public—-something is wanting and something must be doneor we shall be involved in all the horror of faction and civil war without a prospectof its termination—Every tried friend to the liberties of his country is bound toreflect, and step forward to prevent the dreadful consequences which will resultfrom a government of events—-Unless this is done we shall be liable to be ruledby an Arbitrary and Capricious armed tyranny, whose word and will must be Law.
HALF A R E V O L U T I O N - 107
The [IJndians on the frontiers are giving indisputable evidence of their hostiledispositions. Congress anxiously desirous of averting the evils on the frontiers,have unanimously agreed to augment the troops now in service to a legionaryCorps of 2,040 noncommissioned officers and privates—The additional are tobe raised as follows
Connecticut 180R[hode] Island 120Massachusetts 660 Infantry and artilleryNew Hampshire 260Maryland 60 CavalryVirginia 60
[Total] 1,340
This measure is important, and will tend to strengthening the principle of gov-ernment as well as to defend the frontiers—1 mention the idea of strengtheninggovernment confidentially but the State of Massachusetts requires the greatestassistance, and Congress are fully impressed with the importance [of] supportingher with great exertions.
George Washington to Henry Knox
December 26,1786
MY DEAR SIR,
Lamentable as the conduct of the Insurgents of Massachusetts is, I am exceedingly
obliged to you for the advices respecting them; and pray you, most ardently, to continue
the acct. of their proceedings; because I can depend upon them from you without having
my mind bewildered with those vague and contradictory reports which are handed to us
in Newspapers, and which please one hour, only to make the moments of the next more
bitter. I feel, my dear Genl. Knox, infinitely more than I can express to you, for the
disorders which have arisen in these States, Good God! who besides a tory could have
foreseen, or a Briton predicted them! were these people wiser than others, or did they
judge of us from the corruption, and depravity of their own hearts? The latter I am
persuaded was the case, and that notwithstanding the boasted virtue of America, we are
far gone in every thing ignoble and bad.
I do assure you, that even at this moment, when I reflect on the present posture of our
affairs, it seems to me to be like the vision of a dream. My mind does not know how to
realize it, as a thing in actual existence, so strange, so wonderful does it appear to me! In
this, as in most other matter, we are too slow. When this spirit first dawned, probably it
might easily have been checked; but it is scarcely within the reach of human ken, at this
moment, to say when, where, or how it will end. There are combustibles in every State,
which a spark might set fire to. In this State, a perfect calm prevails at present, and a
prompt disposition to support, and give energy to the foederal System is discovered, if the
unlucky stirring of the dispute respecting the navigation of the Mississippi does not
become a leaven that will ferment, and sour the mind of it.
The resolutions of the prest. Session respecting a paper emission, military certificates,
&ca., have stamped justice and liberality on the proceedings of the Assembly, and By a
late act, it seems very desirous of a General Convention to revise and amend the foederal
Constitution. Apropos, what prevented the Eastern States from attending the September
meeting at Annapolis? Of all the States in the Union it should have seemed to me, that a
measure of this sort (distracted as they were with internal commotions, and experiencing
the want of energy in the government) would have been most pleasing to them. What are
the prevailing sentiments of the one now proposed to be held at Philadelphia, in May
next? and how will it be attended ?
In both your letters you intimate, that the men of reflection, principle and property in
New England, feeling the inefficacy of their present government, are contemplating a
change; but you are not explicit with respect to the nature of it. It has been supposed,
that, the Constitution of the State of Massachusetts was amongst the most energetic in
the Union; May not these disorders then be ascribed to an endulgent exercise of the
powers of Administration? If your laws authorized, and your powers were adequate to the
suppression of these tumults, in the first appearances of them, delay and temporizing
expedients were, in my opinion improper; these are rarely well applied, and the same
causes would produce similar effects in any form of government, if the powers of it are
not enforced, I ask this question for information, I know nothing of the facts.
That G. B will be an unconcerned Spectator of the present insurrections (if they continue)
is not to be expected. That she is at this moment sowing the Seeds of jealousy and
discontent among the various tribes of Indians on our frontier admits of no doubt, in my
mind. And that she will improve every opportunity to foment the spirit of turbulence
within the bowels of the United States, with a view of distracting our governments, and
promoting divisions, is, with me, not less certain. Her first Manoeuvres will, no doubt, be
covert, and may remain so till the period shall arrive when a decided line of conduct may
avail her. Charges of violating the treaty, and other pretexts, will not then be wanting to
colour overt acts, tending to effect the grt. objects of which she has long been in labour. A
Man is now at the head of their American Affairs(i) well calculated to conduct measures
of this kind, and more than probably was selected for the purpose. We ought not
therefore to sleep nor to slumber. Vigilance in watching, and vigour in acting, is, in my
opinion, become indispensably necessary. If the powers are inadequate amend or alter
them, but do not let us sink into the lowest state of humiliation and contempt, and
become a byword in all the earth. I think with you that the Spring will unfold important
and distressing Scenes, unless much wisdom and good management is displayed in the
interim.
www.nps.gov/spar/historyculture/Ioader.cfm?csModuie=security/getfile.-.
The "Tree of Liberty" letter
From Thomas Jefferson to William Smith
Paris, November 13,1787
DEAR SIR, — I am now to acknowledge the receipt of your favors of October the 4th, 8th,
& 26th. In the last you apologise for your letters of introduction to Americans coming
here. It is so far from needing apology on your part, that it calls for thanks on mine. I
endeavor to show civilities to all the Americans who come here, & will give me
opportunities of doing it: and it is a matter of comfort to know from a good quarter what
they are, & how far I may go in my attentions to them. Can you send me Woodmason's
bills for the two copying presses for the M. de la Fayette, & the M. de Chastellux? The
latter makes one article in a considerable account, of old standing, and which I cannot
present for want of this article. — I do not know whether it is to yourself or Mr. Adams I
am to give my thanks for the copy of the new constitution. I beg leave through you to
place them where due. It will be yet three weeks before I shall receive them from
America. There are very good articles in it: & very bad. I do not know which
preponderate. What we have lately read in the history of Holland, in the chapter on the
Stadtholder, would have sufficed to set me against a chief magistrate eligible for a long
duration, if I had ever been disposed towards one: & what we have always read of the
elections of Polish kings should have forever excluded the idea of one continuable for life.
Wonderful is the effect of impudent & persevering lying. The British ministry have so
long hired their gazetteers to repeat and model into every form lies about our being in
anarchy, that the world has at length believed them, the English nation has believed
them, the ministers themselves have come to believe them, & what is more wonderful, we
have believed them ourselves, Yet where does this anarchy exist? Where did it ever exist,
except in the single instance of Massachusetts? And can history produce an instance of
rebellion so honourably conducted? 1 say nothing of it's motives. They were founded in
ignorance, not wickedness. God forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a
rebellion. The people cannot be all, & always well informed. The part which is wrong will
be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they
remain quiet under such misconceptions it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the
public liberty. We have had 13. states independent n, years. There has been one rebellion.
That comes to one rebellion in a century & a half for each state. What country before ever
existed a century & a half without a rebellion? & what country can preserve it's liberties if
their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of
resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon &
pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be
refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. It is it's natural manure.
Our Convention has been too much impressed by the insurrection of Massachusetts: and
in the spur of the moment they are setting up a kite to keep the hen-yard in order. I hope
in God this article will be rectified before the new constitution is accepted. — You ask me
if any thing transpires here on the subject of S. America? Not a word. I know that there
are combustible materials there, and that they wait the torch only. But this country
probably will join the extinguishers. — The want of facts worth communicating to you has
occasioned me to give a little loose to dissertation. We must be contented to amuse,
when we cannot inform.
http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/96oct/obrien/blood.htm
