Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Massachusetts in the 1780s was deeply polarized. In the preparty era, the most developed communities were able to monopolize the levers of policymaking and governance in order to secure their interests. The least commercial–cosmopolitan communities, lacking organization and resources, were unable to advance their interests. The least commercial–cosmopolitan communities’ inability to influence politics and secure relief stemmed from the absence of party competition. The absence of oppositional political organizations to counteract the natural advantages of elites in preparty politics obstructed the representation of the least commercial–cosmopolitan communities. Such obstruction caused the accumulation of populist frustration, culminating in Shays’s Rebellion.
Source: Histories
Author: Eric A. Baldwin
Institution: Stanford University
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,207
OpenAlex ID: W4410761571