Shay’s Rebellion
Northwest Territory
Pages 335-337
Daniel Shays
 Because
of inflation, Continental
soldiers did not receive the pay they
earned fighting in the war.
 Daniel Shays was one of these
soldiers.
 He was a farmer who could not
afford to buy tools and seeds for
planting.
Problems for Farmers
 Like
many former soldiers, he
borrowed money and went into debt.
 Some states made debtors pay back
what they owed right away.
 If they could not pay, the state could
take their land and send them to
prison.
 Many farmers protested the laws.
Shay’s Rebellion
 In
1786 Daniel Shays, a former
captain in the Continental army
along with 1,200 other poor farmers
joined together to show their anger
about the situation.
Shay’s Rebellion
 In
January 1787, they attacked a
building used for storing weapons in
Massachusetts.
 They wanted to show that the
government was too weak to act.
 The governor of Massachusetts sent
the state militia to end the conflict.
 Four protesters died in the fighting.
The Western Lands
 Now
that the war was over, a
decision had to be made about the
lands in the Ohio River Valley.
 Before the war, King George III said
these lands were reserved for the
Native Americans.
 However, many Americans decided to
go ahead and settle the lands.
A New Frontier
 Once
the U.S. won their
independence, it opened the frontier
to settlement.
 The land north of the Ohio River was
now called the Northwest Territory.
 The land south of the Ohio River was
called the Southwest Territory.
Northwest Territory
Southwest Territory
The Northwest Ordinance
 In
1787, Congress passed the
Northwest Ordinance.
 The ordinance established the steps
by which new states would be
formed from the lands.
 The ordinance did not allow people to
keep slaves in the Northwest
Territory.
 It also said Native Americans should
be treated fairly.