Shays' Rebellion was an armed uprising in Western Massachusetts in opposition to a debt crisis among the citizenry and the state government's increased efforts to collect taxes both on individuals and their trades; the fight took place mostly in and around Springfield during 1786 and 1787. The uprising was one of the major influences in the calling of a Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. The tax protest showed the federal government, under the Articles of Confederation, couldn't put down an internal rebellion. It had to rely on a state militia sponsored by private Boston business people.
