Description:
List of expenses occured during Shay's Rebellion, which was signed on April 14, 1787 by Hugh Maxwell (1733-1799) and Asaph White, selectmen of the town of Heath. They were requesting reimbursement for provisions they supplied for eleven local men who were with General William Shepard (1737-1817) along with 1200 local militiamen when he defended the Federal Arsenal against Daniel Shay and 2000 farmers on Jan. 25, 1787. Shay's Rebellion was an armed uprising that lasted from Aug. 29, 1786 to Feb. 3, 1787, which was caused by an economic depression that severely affected western Massachusetts farmers. When the farmers' petitions for a paper currency, lower taxes, and judicial reform were ignored, an armed group of farmers, led by Daniel Shay (1747-1825), a Revolutionary War veteran and farmer in Pelham, Mass., occupied courts in several towns, hoping to prevent further trials and imprisonment for debt. The farmers were routed at Springfield and taken by surprise at Petersham, Mass., on Feb 3, 1787, ending the rebellion. As Justice of the Peace of Hampshire County from 1785 to 1799, Hugh Maxwell administered the Oath of Allegiance to those insurgents who gave up their arms. Shay's Rebellion is considered one of the leading causes in the formation of the United States Constitution. The document reads in part: "In Obediance of orders Received from Major-General Shepard to furnish men who should March from the Town of Heath to Springfield in January last with provision until the Commissary should counter order, we the Selectment of the Town did furnish provision for Eleven Men who marched from the fifteenth day of January to the twenty sixth...we have credit on the Roll for only Six days provision, leaving due to us six days Rations.." Below the amounts computed is: "Heath April 14, 1787. to the Honorable the Committe for Settling the amounts of the Expense incurred by the Rebellion", and a signed statement by the men's captain that "they did not draw provision from the public store during the six days Referred to.."
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