Shays’ Rebellion and the Spirit of Freedom

by | Jun 20, 2000 | POLITICS

In 1786 New England farmers, oppressed by taxation, launched a series of rebellions against state authorities. Beginning with popular protests at town meetings, the demonstrations spread to local courthouses and legislatures. The statehouse in Hew Hampshire was quietly surrounded, guards posted, and the legislators held inside for some hours until released unharmed. The protests culminated […]

In 1786 New England farmers, oppressed by taxation, launched a series of rebellions against state authorities. Beginning with popular protests at town meetings, the demonstrations spread to local courthouses and legislatures. The statehouse in Hew Hampshire was quietly surrounded, guards posted, and the legislators held inside for some hours until released unharmed. The protests culminated with the storming of the arsenal in Springfield in January of 1787.

The response of Thomas Jefferson to Shays Rebellion is fascinating. In a Christmas Eve 1786 letter from Paris he wrote: “The commotions which have taken place in America, insofar as they are known to me, offer nothing threatening. They are a proof that the people have liberty enough, and I would not wish them less than they have. If the happiness of the mass of the people can be secured at the expence of a little tempest now and then, or even of a little blood, it will be a precious purchase. Malo libertum periculusam quam quietam servitutem” (I prefer the dangers of liberty to the calm of servitude).

Jefferson looked at America and saw the spirit of freedom. He saw men unwilling to bow to the arbitrary arrogance of the legislature, and he saw their refusal to submit as proof of the presence of liberty. He wished them nothing less.

Jefferson was not the first to see this. Observing the slave as the man “without spirit,” the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle saw the precondition of tyranny. The tyrant, he said, must “must put to death the men of spirit . . . and he must be on guard against anything which is likely to inspire either courage or confidence in his subjects.” The man of spirit, Aristotle knew, stands up for what he believes in. He is the enemy of all tyrants: democratic, autocratic and elsewise.

In our own day, for the first time in the history of America, the inviolability of a citizen’s home has been breached by armed storm troopers — and American has not shown the spirit to resist. A little boy faces deportation to live under a foreign despot — and America yawns.

What would Jefferson and Aristotle see today? They would not be fooled by the semblance of peace in Cuba, for a spiritless slave is docile by nature. Closed borders, suppression of intellectual opposition, the sight of inhabitants throwing themselves into the sea to escape would be evidence enough for them. I daresay they would not even be shocked; tyranny, after all, is what occurs when men are not vigilant.

What would be truly frightening is rather in America. Here they would see a people who had once possessed the spirit of freedom but had thrown it away to appease a two-bit foreign tyrant. They would see the constitution that proclaimed America’s moral right to exist renounced because social workers and pop psychologists say that liberty is irrelevant to a happy home life. They would see the guardians of human freedom enslave a little boy who washed ashore in a search for liberty.

When Shays and his men rebelled they wore a sprig of evergreen, a symbol of liberty earlier emblazoned on the flag at Bunker Hill. As a decorated soldier in the Revolutionary War Shays had earned this badge. Despite his rebellion he was pardoned by the legislature and awarded a pension, and upon his death even those who disagreed with him remembered him as one of the last of America’s “heroic age.”

If only those few who stand for freedom today could receive the same respect. That they do not is in the spirit of our own age, is it not?

John David Lewis (website) is a Visiting Professor of Political Science, Duke University. He has been a Senior Research Scholar in History and Classics at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center, and an Anthem Fellow.

The views expressed above represent those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors and publishers of Capitalism Magazine. Capitalism Magazine sometimes publishes articles we disagree with because we think the article provides information, or a contrasting point of view, that may be of value to our readers.

Related articles

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

Pin It on Pinterest