Identify Washington’s and Jefferson’s point of view of Shays’ Rebellion

Of Shays’ Rebellion, Washington wrote, “if three years ago any person had told me that at this day, I should see such a formidable rebellion against the laws & constitutions of our own making as now appears I should have thought him a bedlamite - a fit subject for a mad house.” He wrote that if the government “shrinks, or is unable to enforce its laws . . . anarchy & confusion must prevail.” Washington did not wish to attend the Philadelphia Convention because he doubted what might be accomplished. He admitted that “powers are wanting” in government but wondered how such powers would be derived. Shay's Rebellion prompted Thomas Jefferson to express the view that "a little rebellion now and then is a good thing" for America.

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