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the two-horse wagon stands.] [Sidenote: Disorder in Massachusetts.] 173. Shays's Rebellion, 1786-87.--In Massachusetts, especially, the discontent was very great. The people were angry with the judges for sending men to prison who did not pay their debts. Crowds of armed men visited the judges and compelled them to close the courts. The leader in this movement was Daniel Shays. He even threatened to seize the United States Arsenal at Springfield. By this time Governor Bowdoin and General Lincoln also had gathered a small force of soldiers. In the midst of winter, through snowstorms and over terrible roads, Lincoln marched with his men. He drove Shays from place to place, captured his followers, and put down the rebellion. There were risings in other states, especially in North Carolina. But Shays's Rebellion in Massachusetts was the most important of them all, because it convinced the New Englanders that a stronger national government was necessary. [Illustration: CLAIMS AND CESSIONS.] [Sidenote: Claims of the states to Western lands. _McMaster_, 155] [Sidenote: _Hero Tales_, 19-28.] [Sidenote: Opposition of Maryland and of other states.] 174. Claims to Western Lands.--The Confederation seemed to be falling to pieces. That it did not actually fall to pieces was largely due to the fact that all the states were interested in the settlement of the region northwest of the Ohio River. It will be well to stop a moment and see how this came about. Under their old charters Massachusetts, Connecticut, Virginia, Carolina, and Georgia had claims to lands west of the Alleghanies. Between 1763 and 1776 the British government had paid slight heed to these claims (pp. 75, 89). But Daniel Boone and other colonists had settled west of the mountains in what are now the states of Kentucky and Tennessee. When the Revolution began the states having claims to western lands at once put them forward, and New York also claimed a right to about one-half of the disputed territory. Naturally, the states that had no claims to these lands had quite different views. The Marylanders, for example, thought that the western lands should be regarded as national territory and used for the common benefit. Maryland refused to join the Confederation until New York had ceded her claims to the United States, and Virginia had proposed a cession of the territory claimed by her. [Sidenote: The states cede their claims to the United States. _McMas
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