7850. SHAYS'S REBELLION, Unjustifiable.—
I am impatient to learn your sentiments
on the late troubles in the Eastern
States. So far as I have yet seen, they do not
appear to threaten serious consequences. Those
States have suffered by the stoppage of the
channels of their commerce, which have not yet
found other issues. This must render money
scarce, and make the people uneasy. This uneasiness
has produced acts absolutely unjustifiable;
but I hope they will provoke no severities
from their governments. A consciousness of
those in power that their administration of the
public affairs has been honest may, perhaps,
produce too great a degree of indignation; and
those characters, wherein fear predominates
over hope, may apprehend too much from these
instances of irregularity. They may conclude
too hastily that nature has formed man insusceptible
of any other government than that
of force, a conclusion not founded in truth
nor experience.—
To James Madison. Washington ed. ii, 104.
Ford ed., iv, 361.
(P.
1787)
