(1786–87) Uprising in western Massachusetts.
In a period of economic depression and land seizures for debt collection, several hundred farmers led by Daniel Shays (1747?–1825), who had served as a captain in the Revolutionary army, marched on the state supreme court in Springfield, preventing it from carrying out foreclosures and debt collection. Shays then led about 1,200 men in an attack on the nearby federal arsenal, but they were repulsed by troops under Benjamin Lincoln . As a result of the uprising, the state enacted laws easing the economic condition of debtors.