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