This collection is made up of individual financial documents and letters from Massachusetts, primarily composed during the early months of 1787. Among other subjects, the material concerns the state's economic climate and military forces commanded by Major General Benjamin Lincoln during Shays' Rebellion.
Among the items directly related to military forces are notes, documents, and accounts for the supply of rations, other provisions, and wages to military troops (5 items) and a request sent by Adam Wheeler to Benjamin Lincoln, for safe passage. Massachusetts Militia officer William Shepard wrote 2 letters to Benjamin Lincoln and Colonel Ezra Badlam about raising troops to defend the Massachusetts government against rebel forces (February 22, 1787, and February 24, 1787).
The collection includes a petition letter that Timothy Fuller sent to the Massachusetts legislature on behalf of many residents of Princeton, Massachusetts, enumerating and discussing several of their complaints against the state government. In addition to voicing their concerns about high legal fees and the salaries of public officials, the residents of Princeton attempted to disassociate themselves from recent violent conflicts (February 1, 1787). One additional item records accounts between the estate of Elisha Doane and Samuel A. Otis of Boston, Massachusetts, dated between August 20, 1783, and March 12, 1784.
By the summer of 1786, many Massachusetts residents had grown discontent with the state's economic policies, which were constructed to alleviate the post-Revolutionary War depression. Farmers and other citizens, who traded in goods rather than currency, were disproportionately affected by increased taxes and the requirement that debt payments be made with paper currency. Other complaints included high legal fees and inflated salaries for public officials. By late August 1786, conflicts had broken out between angry citizens and local government institutions. The Massachusetts government requested permission from the Secretary of War to arm the state militia before the end of the year. In early 1787, Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays led an attempt to overtake a federal arsenal at Springfield, Massachusetts, where his "Regulators" met federal regiments under the command of Major General Benjamin Lincoln. Though resentment, pardons, punishments, and legislative responses continued into the following months, the rebellion effectively ended in February 1787.
