When a group stands up for what they believe in, it can have incredible results. Sometimes these results can even have ripple effects that have the power to create one of the strongest nations on Earth. Shays' Rebellion was one of those defining moments and without it this country might have collapsed long ago. Farmers' Problems For the first few years after the Revolutionary War, the future of commercial and agrarian society seemed to be in jeopardy due to a chain of debts. worrying the depressed economy of the post-war years. The horrible economy affected almost everyone in New England, especially farmers. For years, farmers had been accustomed to cultivating only enough for their needs and cultivating very little in excess. The problem with this way of farming is that with little or no surplus it is very difficult to earn enough money to pay off excessive debts. Since farmers had very little money, buyers offered the items they needed on short-term credit and received surplus agricultural goods as seasonal payment. But if the farmer ended up with a less than satisfactory harvest, the shopkeepers would normally extend credit and essentially lock the farmer into their business every year. When a credit crisis occurs, the slow disintegration of this culture becomes increasingly evident. In times of trouble, merchants in need of cash withdrew credit from their farmer customers and demanded repayment of cash loans. These types of demands showed how the commercial elite was growing in power, which upset New England farmers. Many of the indebted farmers were put in debtors' prison. Some decided to take a stand and start a rebellion. Revolt Daniel Shays was the person who led the rebellion. He was born in Hopkinton... middle of paper... in semi-sovereign states that dominate the political system. Shays' Rebellion also influenced the need for the government to have an army at its disposal. If it weren't for the debtors and farmers rising up against the government, we may have ended up with a completely different nation than we have today. If they had remained silent and not risen up, we may not have discovered the weakness of our national government and its inability to protect the peace until it was too late. Without that strong unification this country might have fallen apart during the Civil War. During the world wars any country could have even invaded and completely crushed this country. We had a strong country and military that continued to face all those wars and threats and Shay's Rebellion was a defining event that pushed us to get that unity and that strength.