Shays' Rebellion 2020 Symposium: Perspectives on History

Join us on January 25, 2020 for a day of presentations and discussion all about the compelling events of Shays’ Rebellion in 1786 and 1787.  Snow Date - January 26, 2020.
The Friends of Springfield Armory National Historic Site is proud to partner with Springfield Technical Community College, the National Park Service, and Pioneer Valley History Network to bring together a slate of six speakers, each presenting a different perspective on the local rebellion with far-reaching implications. Each bank of speakers will be followed by panel discussions and robust audience question and answer sessions.

Speakers
Tim Abbott
The Final Fight at Sheffield

Daniel Bullen
Shays Kerfuffle: A Peoples Perspective

Steve Butz 
Archaeology of the Shays Settlement

Tom Goldscheider
Three Men in Debt

Barbara Mathews 
More than a Little Rebellion

Adam Tomasi
The Contested Meanings of “Shays Rebellion Day” 1986

While “Shays’ Rebellion” is often seen through an elite perspective of agrarian unrest by western Massachusetts farmers in 1786 and 1787, other viewpoints saw “Regulators” and their long campaign against unjust taxes. This crisis was by no means simple. It has a complex relationship not only with the history that preceded it, but also had a profound effect on the young United States moving forward. From the French and Indian War and the American Revolution to the Constitutional Conventions; from populist resistance movements to the exercise of a powerful centralized government, we may find that Shays’ Rebellion is not simply a local story with local meanings.