As the United States congress met to discuss the future of their newly formed nation, Massachusetts was experiencing the Shays’s Rebellion, whose important members played a part in changing the way the way the nation thought of their military policies. As the American Revolution came to a close, the United States acknowledged the debt they had accumulated over the course of eighteen years of war. The huge amount owed to the soldiers who fought, and France for their support, prompted congress to collect money from them in the form of taxes. At the time, many farmers owed huge debts, on top of having to pay taxes. This combination, caused many farmers to lose land, and some were arrested. As a retort to this, many famers created a petition against the taxes and sent it to congress, where it was ignored. The disregard for the farmer’s situation created disdain for the institution that began imprisoning them, and as a result, led to farmers taking arms. …show more content…
As such, congress decided that Springfield, Massachusetts would be the location of this weapon storage. After the insurrection started, the individuals who took sides with Shay and the farmers wished to seize this storage as a strategic tactic. The primary impetus of this seizure was to obtain the firepower to win battles as necessary. The secondary goal, was to deprive any militia or army from the weapons they stored away after the revolution. With these two goals in mind, the capture of Springfield was a very worthy gamble to members of the