Some of them were so effective that they started to shut down the foreclosure hearings, especially for the people who were victims of foreclosure. Many of the people that could not pay the taxes would go to a debtor's prison.
Farmers not only protested the fact that they have to pay all these taxes and the foreclosures, but also that these victims had to be in the debtor's prison. They needed a leader, so they look toward a man that goes by Daniel Shays. .
Shays was an ex-captain in the Continental Army, where he was a highly respected. uring As a recognition for Shay's bravery and service, Marquis de Lafayette presented him with a sword, which was a big honor. Shays was also being heavily affected by the new laws and foreclosures which occurred because of them, so out of desperation and lack of experience the other farmers asked him to organize this group. He gathered the unhappy farmers, and made some demands for all of them. Some of the demands included: more paper currency laws, delayed foreclosures (delay foreclosure proceedings; give people more time to be able to pay for the taxes), no debt imprisonment (wanted to close down debtor's prisons), and finally they also wanted the state capital to be relocated to a more central location. They knew the last demand may not have been met, but they still asked anyways. They asked for a reason for it to be in or near Western Massachusetts. The reason was the capital was in Boston and they were located in Western Massachusetts, so sending their leader to the meetings in the capital required taking a lot of money and a great deal of time. Unfortunately a great deal of the time, they had neither of these resources.
Shays and his rebels attempted to capture a federal armory located in Springfield, Western Massachusetts in Spring/Winter of 1786, they did not succeed. This alerts the state to call out the militia, but they had no luck getting this cleared up with the farmers.