e granted to Congress, and that paper money should
be issued at once. Another convention at Lenox denounced such incendiary
measures, approved of supporting the federal government, and declared
that no good could come from the issue of paper money. But meanwhile the
angry farmers had resorted to violence. The legislature, they said, had
its sittings in Boston, under the influence of wicked lawyers and
merchants, and thus could not be expected to do the will of the people.
A cry went up that henceforth the law-makers must sit in some small
inland town, where jealous eyes might watch their proceedings. Meanwhile
the lawyers must be dealt with; and at Northampton, Worcester, Great
Barrington, and Concord the courts were broken up by armed mobs. At
Concord one Job Shattuck brought several hundred armed men into the town
and surrounded the court-house, while in a fierce harangue he declared
that the time had come for wiping out all debts. "Yes," squeaked a nasal
voice from the crowd,--"yes, Job, we know all about them two farms you
can't never pay for!" But this repartee did not save the judges, who
thought it best to flee from the town. At first the legislature deemed
it wise to take a lenient view of these proceedings, and it even went so
far as to promise to hold its next session out of Boston. But the
agitation had reached a point where it could not be stayed. In September
the supreme court was to sit at Springfield, and Governor Bowdoin sent a
force of 600 militia under General Shepard to protect it. They were
confronted by some 600 insurgents, under the leadership of Daniel Shays.
This man had been a captain in the Continental army, and in his force
were many of the penniless veterans whom Gates would fain have incited
to rebellion at Newburgh. Shays seems to have done what he could to
restrain his men from violence, but he was a poor creature, wanting
alike in courage and good faith. On the other hand the militia were
lacking in spirit. After a disorderly parley, with much cursing and
swearing, they beat a retreat, and the court was prevented from sitting.
Fresh riots followed at Worcester and Concord. A regiment of cavalry,
sent out by the governor, scoured Middlesex County, and, after a short
fight in the woods near Groton, captured Job Shattuck and dispersed his
men. But this only exasperated the insurgents. They assembled in
Worcester to the number of 1,200 or more, where they lived for two
months at free quarters,