Editing Shays's Rebellion (section)

== Consequences ==

Four thousand people signed confessions acknowledging participation in the events of the rebellion in exchange for amnesty. Several hundred participants were eventually indicted on charges relating to the rebellion, but most of these were pardoned under a general amnesty that excluded only a few ringleaders. Eighteen men were convicted and sentenced to death, but most of these had their sentences commuted or overturned on appeal or were pardoned. John Bly and Charles Rose were hanged on December 6, 1787.<ref>Richards, pp. 38–41</ref> They were also accused of a common-law crime for looting.

Shays was pardoned in 1788 and he returned to Massachusetts from hiding in the Vermont woods.<ref name=zinn95/> He was vilified by the Boston press, who painted him as an archetypal anarchist opposed to the government.<ref>Richards, p. 117</ref> He later moved to the [[Conesus, New York]] area, where he died poor and obscure in 1825.<ref name=zinn95>Zinn, p. 95</ref>

The crushing of the rebellion and the harsh terms of reconciliation imposed by the Disqualification Act all worked against Governor Bowdoin politically. He received few votes from the rural parts of the state and was trounced by [[John Hancock]] in the gubernatorial election of 1787.<ref>Richards, pp. 38–39</ref> The military victory was tempered by tax changes in subsequent years. The legislature cut taxes and placed a moratorium on debts and also refocused state spending away from interest payments, resulting in a 30-percent decline in the value of Massachusetts securities as those payments fell in arrears.<ref>Richards, p. 119</ref>

Vermont was an unrecognized [[Vermont Republic|independent republic]] that had been seeking [[New Hampshire Grants|independent statehood]] from New York's claims to the territory. It became an unexpected beneficiary of the rebellion by sheltering the rebel ringleaders. [[Alexander Hamilton]] broke from other New Yorkers, including major landowners with claims on Vermont territory, calling for the state to recognize and support Vermont's bid for admission to the union. He cited Vermont's de facto independence and its ability to cause trouble by providing support to the discontented from neighboring states, and he introduced legislation that broke the impasse between New York and Vermont. Vermonters responded favorably to the overture by publicly pushing Eli Parsons and Luke Day out of the state (but quietly continuing to support others).{{citation needed|date=August 2018}} Vermont became the fourteenth state after negotiations with New York and the passage of the new constitution.<ref>Richards, p. 122</ref>