Home > American Revolution > Daniel Shays Biography

Born c. 1747 Hopkinton, Massachusetts
Died September 29, 1825
Sparta, New York

Farmer, soldier, political leader, insurrectionist

During the American Revolution (1775–83), Daniel Shays served with distinction in the American army, earning battlefield promotions for bravery. He later gained notoriety as the leader of the Shays Rebellion of 1786. Like those who began the war, Shays and his followers were protesting what they considered unfair taxation. The rebellion was suppressed, Shays and the other rebels were pardoned, and the event led political leaders to press for a strong federal government.

Not much is known about Daniel Shays's life before he enlisted as a soldier in the American army during the Revolutionary War. He was the second of six children born to Patrick Shays and Margaret Dempsey, who married in 1744 and lived in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. It is...