During 1786 and 1787, Daniel Shay led thousands of farmers in a rebellion against the Massachusetts State Government called Shay’s Rebellion. The participants were all fed up with the economic conditions after the Revolutionary War that saw them lose their land and possessions when they couldn’t pay their taxes. During this time, the federal government was unable to fund a national army so the responsibilty fell to the states and private citizens to defend themselves with their own men.
The rebellion's first priority was to overtake the Armory in Springfield. This invasion was stopped by a recently-formed Massachusetts state militia. When the rebels left to regroup their forces a privately-formed militia comprised of three thousand men marched on Springfield and put an end to the rebellion with few casualties.
When General George Washington heard about the uprising of his fellow citizens he came out of retirement to head the Constitional Convention. With Washington as it’s leader the convention ratified the US Constitution, giving the central government much more power than before.
The Second Amendment says “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” In the atmosphere immediately following Shay’s Rebellion it didn’t seem economically feasible to keep a standing army capable of suppressing future rebellions. What the writers had in mind, instead of an indivdual having the right to bear arms, was that the state had the right to bear arms. It was the right of each state to keep a militia capable of controlling their population. The founding fathers assumed there would be future uprisings and wanted to make sure the states rights to take action was guaranteed. Thomas Jefferson, when he heard about Shay’s Rebellion, best articulated the founding fathers's attitude towards the uprising: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”
