Shay's Rebellion Was Not Justified

Poverty, hunger, and forced to pay the government taxes. These are the reasons for a rebellion, they say, because their voices was not heard. They had no other choice than to resort to violence to catch the government’s attention, did they? No, they did have other choices other than violence, and their voices were heard. There was a reason for the government’s reaction of ignoring. First, let us look at the choices the people could have taken before rebelling. They could have actually helped the government raise the economy instead of pressuring them to do more for the colonists and farmers. My friends, the whole point of taxes was for the good of the colonists themselves. To not realize that and take a risky move and put their lives in danger wasn’t very justified; people even died in the rebellion. The taxes also weren’t like the British ones where they were paid to cover a debt and for luxuries for the King. The government did take action after the rebellion. It’s just that the they thought they made a solution, putting on taxes for the best of the people; it was not for ill use. When ignoring the peaceful negotiations, the government was probably trying to say that the colonists have to work to raise a better lifestyle for themselves. Even they didn’t have much money to pull through. Because the colonists were rebelling, saying that the taxes were unreasonable, the government was not ignoring. They were saying that the taxes are the path to a good future for themselves. The colonists were rebelling and yelling at the government to stop these attempts of creating a better colony, to stop the taxes. The colonists should come up with another solution to the problem of a bad economy instead of complaining to the government that they had to work. If they themselves come up with a solution, the government might have payed more attention to the flaws of that current tactic.

In conclusion, the way the colonists acted, deciding on a rebellion was too rash.