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 the planet. Shays Rebellion was one of those defining moments and without it, this country might have collapsed a long time ago. Farmers' Unrest During the early years of the play, after the Revolutionary War, the future of commercial and agrarian society seemed to be threatened by a chain of debts. disturbing the depressed economy of the post-war years. The terrible economy impacted almost everyone in New England, especially farmers. For years, farmers had been accustomed to growing only what they needed and producing very little surplus. The problem with this method 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 excess farm produce as seasonal payment. But if the farmer found himself with a less than satisfactory harvest, merchants normally extended credit and tied the farmer to his business each year. When a credit crisis occurs, the slow disintegration of this culture becomes increasingly evident. In times of difficulty, traders who needed liquidity withdrew credit from their farmer customers and demanded repayment of their loans in cold, hard cash. These types of demands showed how the business elite was gaining power, which destabilized New England farmers. Many indebted farmers were thrown into debtors' prison. Some decided to take a stand and start a rebellion. Uprising Daniel Shays was the person who later led the rebellion. He was born in Hopkinton... middle of paper ......f semi-sovereign states dominating the political system. Shays' Rebellion also influenced the need for the government to have an army ready to intervene. If there had not been an uprising of debtors and farmers against the government, we might well have ended up with a totally different nation than the one we have today. If they had remained silent and not risen up, we might not have discovered the weakness of our national government and its inability to protect peace until it was too late. Without this strong unification, this country could have collapsed during the civil war. During the world wars, any country could have even invaded and completely crushed this country. We have had a strong country and army that survived all these wars and threats and Shay's Rebellion was a defining event that pushed us to gain that unity and strength..