February 3

The Constitution of the United States is a truly magnificent document. In it, the rights and the responsibilities of all Americans are clearly delineated; and it has served remarkably well as a model for the constitutions of innumerable nations the world over. This gift to humanity came into being, like the United States itself, only after extraordinary violence. For the nation, that violence was the revolutionary war of independence waged against Great Britain. For the document, the violence was the rebellion started by Daniel Shay in western Massachusetts. Shay’s Rebellion burst on the scene when violence erupted in August of 1786. The rebellion ended when Federal forces crushed Daniel Shay’s troops on the 3rd in 1787 prompting the negotiations that would result in the designing of the United States Constitution. In November, well after the rebellion had been put down, Thomas Jefferson wrote to a colleague and shared his thoughts on how things turned out. Jefferson was of the opinion that “[t]he tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.” I think that it is safe to assume that Jefferson was extremely confident that it was not his blood that would be used for the watering of the tree of liberty.

Daniel Shay held the rank of captain when he fought on the side of the colonists at the battles of Bunker Hill, Ticonderoga, Saratoga and Stony Point during the revolution which would lead to the United States’ independence. He was given a ceremonial sword by the Marguis de Lafayette as a token of appreciation for his service to the new nation.