In the years following the Revolutionary War, the fledgling United States faced a storm of economic turmoil and political discord. Massachusetts, once a hub of revolutionary fervor, became the epicenter of this crisis. For the farmers and war veterans of western Massachusetts, independence had brought not prosperity but crushing debt, rising taxes, and a financial system seemingly designed to benefit eastern merchants at their expense. The Articles of Confederation, under which the national government operated, left states to fend for themselves. It was a patchwork system incapable of offering relief or cohesion. Massachusetts, under the leadership of Governor James Bowdoin, pursued aggressive measures to repay war debts, including taxes payable only in hard currency. For rural farmers scraping by in a barter economy, this was an impossible demand. Their land and livestock were seized, their debts were called in, and they were hauled before courts often far from their homes. The courts became symbols of oppression, places where economic ruin was formalized and independence dissolved.

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