History Spotlight, 2/3

On February 3, 1787, the newly formed US government crushed Shay's Rebellion in Western Massachusetts. As with most of these things, it all came down to taxes and injustice.
After the American Revolution, the new government owed all kinds of money to various European powers and private investors and they wanted their money in silver or gold. None of this weird "dollars" nonsense, either, they wanted cash. There wasn't enough gold in the federal treasury and so the debt got passed on to the states. The states didn't have it, either and one state, Massachusetts, passed it on to the farmers. The farmers, many of who fought in the revolution, didn't like that one bit. They obviously didn't have the gold to pony up so they were faced with the prospect of losing their land and winding up in debtor's prison all because of the federal debt. They had a meeting and decided to petition the legislature in Boston.
Other veterans of the revolution, also treated quite shabbily, joined the cause and attempted to get local judges to stay the confiscation of land until the legislature had met to hear their case. At the local courthouses, they learned that the local militia had been called up to keep them away. The problem was that most of the members of these local militias were also veterans or farmers or friends and neighbors of the protesters. More often than not, the militias wound up joining the rebellion.
This outraged the upper class in Boston who couldn't believe that the commoners in Western Mass were daring to rebel against them, their rightful rulers. Sound familiar? Samuel Adams tried to claim that the rebellion was being fomented by agents of the British.
An army was raised in Boston and sent to protect the court in Springfield so that it could continue to process foreclosures. One of the farmers, Daniel Shays, tried to get in touch with another revolutionary leader, Luke Day, to propose that they should get their forces to Springfield and take the armory before the Boston army got there. Day never got the message and Shays and his forces headed into battle not knowing that they were on their own.
For his part, the leader of the Boston Army, General William Shepard, was having his own problems with Congress. His troops were unpaid and ill-equipped. He wanted that armory more than anyone, except Shays. Shepard got to the armory before Shays, but Secretary of War Henry Knox denied him permission to use those weapons because only Congress could issue that order and they were out of session. Shepard did what anyone else would have done and ignored the order.
So, here's the situation: We have Shays approaching the armory, thinking it's deserted and expecting Day's army to be coming up any time now. We have Shepard lying in wait, not really looking forward to firing on his own countrymen. Shepard ordered a warning shot over their heads and then, when that didn't work, a single round (from each of his men in front) into the massed rebels. Many were captured, most fled north. By March, the rebellion was over.