# SHAYS'S REBELLION & the MARCH on SPRINGFIELD ARSENAL

# *[SIMULATION]{.underline}*

\[created and adapted by Richard Colton, Historian, Springfield Armory
NHS, 3/27/07 mini lesson on conflict situations\]

**A SUCCESSFUL & SIMPLE SIMULATION**

Appropriate for grade 5 through Middle School.

**OVERVIEW**: This game has been successful in introducing conflict
situations or comparative systems. It is presented here to help learners
understand the 1787 storming of Springfield Arsenal, Springfield,
Massachusetts, by armed rebels during what has come to be known as
***Shays's Rebellion***. The attack was repulsed with the loss of four
rebels killed and many wounded. Fear of similar rebellions led directly
to the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.

This simulation provides non-threatening though possibly emotionally
charged interaction by individuals and teams \[the kind of experience
only a simulation can give\]. By using the simulation, the students will
experience key concepts and terms, such as authority, value, laws,
fairness and conflict. With adaptations, the game can be used for
different subjects, different age levels and/or different objectives.

**PURPOSE**: Knowledge is internalized and gained through reflection on
experience. Throughout the year the experience of the simulation can be
used as a reference point, such as \"Do you remember how you felt
when\....?\" The debriefing session is the KEY. Players communicate and
explore who did what, who did it, when, and why. Anticipation of
potential aggressive or inappropriate behavior can be easily dispelled.

**OBJECTIVES**: Students will be able to:

1.  Analyze their own behavior in a group in terms of cooperation and
    communication.

2.  Compare interactions among groups and then relate to other social
    groups.

3.  Discuss ways to resolve conflicts, establish control/authority to
    meet needs.

**ACTIVITIES**: Count the number of students and distribute to each the
number of tokens \[candy wafers, pennies?\] that each student is in that
count. For instance, 24 students would mean that the first student got
one token, the next got two, and the next person got three, and so forth
until the last got twenty-four. To those students receiving fewer
tokens, that is, the lower half of the class, distribute a single piece
of paper *Continental* Dollars \[Monopoly money will do\] in random
order of face value regardless of how many *silver* Dollars \[tokens\]
these students have \["the luck of the draw" -- life in 1787 wasn't
always fair!\]. Explain to the students that each token is a
make-believe *silver* Dollar and that it may buy a minimum of
[ten]{.underline} Dollars in paper *Continental* Dollars.

**Divide the class** into three groups: those elected to the legislature
\[to make the rules about money\]; those who can also vote; and those
who can't vote. (Place on the chalkboard or overhead projector the rules
if possible.) The rules are that those with eighteen (18) or more
*silver* Dollars can be elected to the five (5) seats in the legislature
to the make the rules about money. Those students with twelve (12) of
more *silver* Dollars get to vote for those in the legislature. Anyone
with fewer than twelve (12) *silver* Dollars doesn't get to vote.
[Ten]{.underline} (10) paper *Continental* Dollars are worth a minimum
of [one]{.underline} (1) *silver* Dollar, however.

**Taxes** are collected every few minutes, or at whatever rate is
convenient, at least four times before elections in the amount of one
*silver* Dollar from everyone who has money unless the legislature
decides differently. Paper *Continental* Dollars may be sold by anyone
with such paper Dollars in exchange for *silver* Dollars at this point.
This goes to the legislature to distribute as they vote which may be
simply redistribution among themselves. The teacher will time this.
After each four rounds of taxes, elections are held to the legislature.
With each election, each student gets one *silver* Dollar from the
teacher in **annual income**. This cycle repeats any number of times
until the simulation is complete. Failure to pay taxes lands the player
in Debtors Prison without income.

The **Legislature** meets apart from the other players and are told
privately by the teacher that, though ten paper *Continental* Dollars
may be purchased from anyone who wishes to sell paper *Continental*
Dollars for one *silver* Dollar, the legislature may vote laws making
the value of the paper *Continental* Dollar worth as much as *silver*
Dollars -- an especially likely scenario as the wealthy players
accumulate paper *Continental* Dollars. The legislature may also change
the taxation rate. The legislature meets apart from the other groups and
tries not to be overheard. The legislator who has the most money gets to
have four votes to every other legislator's single vote.

All players can influence the legislature in two ways: by **petition**
and by **revolution**. Tell those students not in the legislature that
they may not verbally communicate to the legislature. They must petition
in writing only. Petitions are written letters to the legislature
requesting a change of the rules. Any group of players can do this. The
legislature, however, may ignore any and all such petitions. Revolution
is different and occurs when the Springfield Arsenal containing muskets
and cannons is seized. (The Springfield Arsenal may be represented by a
specific area of the room or field containing some symbolic muskets,
etc.) The Arsenal may be seized when at least half of the players gather
there. Successful revolution returns all the players to the amount of
*silver* and paper *Continental* dollars they started the game with or,
if the teacher desires, all Dollars may be redistributed among the
players in whatever portion desired. Revolution ends the game or the
teacher can choose to end it at any point otherwise. Occasionally
revolution is averted by a responsive Legislature -- but not often!

**ENDING**: At this time, when either the Legislature responds
positively to the Petitions or Revolution occurs, the simulation is
declared over and the students are reminded it was ONLY a game. Start
the debriefing. It must happen now when emotions are at their summit.
Make a list of actions, reactions, what was fair, what was unfair.

The time needed to complete the game is set to meet your needs, but the
debriefing is critical and must take place immediately at the end of the
game. For example, each member of one of the three groups will explain
why they did what they did. If you wish, the time can be left
unannounced and the teacher can stop the game when the \"mood\" is
right.

**DEBRIEFING**: Teachers familiar with the history of Shays's Rebellion
should explain to the class that most Revolutionary War soldiers were
paid in paper *Continental* Dollars which became nearly worthless after
the war \[about 10 cents on the Dollar!\]. And it was after the
Revolutionary War that powerful and wealthy people in Massachusetts
changed the laws (embodied in the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution) so
that only those with a lot of money could vote and make the rules. The
attack on Springfield Arsenal in 1787 by desperately poor and powerless
people was a violent attempt to change the rules in Massachusetts to
make society more equitable and democratic. Though the attack failed, it
did help bring about improvements because the laws \[rules\] changed and
social tensions were reduced. The attack on the Arsenal caused many
leaders in the nation to meet in Philadelphia a few months after the
attack on Springfield Arsenal to support the creation of a new national
US Constitution that would create a more democratic society and avoid
violent revolutions. Today, we live under those 'new' rules created in
Philadelphia in 1787.

**RESOURCES/MATERIALS NEEDED**: Students; tokens for *silver* Dollars
(pennies or candy wafers will do); paper *Continental* Dollars (Monopoly
money or photo-copies of Continental dollars are good) in the amounts of
approximately \[1\]\$2, \[1\]\$3, \[1\]\$5, \[1\]\$7, \[3\]\$20,
\[2\]\$30, \[1\]\$40, \[1\]\$60, \[1\]\$70 for this game of about 24
players; a list; and chalkboard are needed if the game meets your needs.

**TYING IT ALL TOGETHER**: This game is flexible to meet your needs and
it is a fun learning experience. The game may help young people begin to
understand America\'s fight to establish a new country and a new form of
government.

**A Brief History of Shays\'s Rebellion,** 1786--87, armed insurrection
by farmers in western Massachusetts against the state government.

Debt-ridden citizens, struck by the economic depression that followed
the American Revolution, petitioned the state Senate to issue paper
money and to halt foreclosure of mortgages on their property and their
own imprisonment for debt due to high land taxes and inflation. Feelings
were particularly high against the commercial interests who controlled
the state Senate in Boston, and the lawyers who hastened the farmers\'
bankruptcy with their exorbitant fees for litigation.

When the state Senate failed to undertake reform, armed insurgents
throughout Massachusetts - most especially in the Berkshire Hills and
the Connecticut River Valley, under the leadership of Daniel Shays and
others - began (Aug., 1786) forcibly to prevent the county courts from
sitting to make judgments for debt. In September, they forced the state
Supreme Court at Springfield to adjourn.

Early in 1787, Gov. James Bowdoin appointed Gen. Benjamin Lincoln to
command 4,400 men against the rebels. Before these soldiers arrived at
Springfield, Gen. William Shepard\'s soldiers had repulsed an attack by
the rebels on the federal arsenal in Springfield. The rebels, losing
four men killed, had dispersed, and Lincoln\'s troops pursued them to
Petersham more than a week later where they were finally routed. Shays
escaped to Vermont. Most of the leaders were pardoned and Shays was
finally pardoned in June, 1788. The rebellion influenced
Massachusetts\'s ratification of the U.S. Constitution. It also swept
Bowdoin out of office and achieved some of its legislative goals.

See G. R. Minot, *History of the Insurrections in Massachusetts in 1786*
(1788, repr. 1971); R. J. Taylor, *Western Massachusetts in the
Revolution* (1954, repr. 1967); M. L. Starkey, *A Little Rebellion*
(1955); D. P. Szatmary, *Shays\' Rebellion* (1980); L.L. Richards,
*Shays's Rebellion* (2002). Documents and history of the storming of
Springfield Arsenal may be found on the WEB at
[www.nps.gov/spar](http://www.nps.gov/spar)