1787 Gubernatorial Election: Hancock vs Bowdoin 4
THE FOLLOWING CONTEST IS SCHEDULED FOR ONE TERM, AND IT IS FOR THE 1787 GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION! INTRODUCING FIRST, THE CHALLENGER, HE IS THE FORMER GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS AND THE FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE CONGRESS OF THE CONFEDERATION..JOHNNNNN HANCOCK!
The challenger
The incumbent
"They can't pay the darn taxes, Jimmy" - John Adams
"I'm retired, get lost!" - George Washington
"You riff raff better scram! Got it??" - William Shepard
"We lost, fellas" - The Regulators
Round 4......FIGHT!
What a beating
The winner....andddd....NEWWWWW GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS, JOHNNNNN HANCOCK!
AND HIS OPPONENT. HE IS THE CURRENT GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS....JAMES BOWDOIN!!!
Simply put, everything fell apart following the 1786 Gubernatorial Election in the state of Massachusetts. Following James Bowdoin's re-election against an un-interested John Hancock, the state of Massachusetts slowly delved into chaos. Back in 1780, Continental Army soldier Daniel Shays wasn't getting paid and decided to go home only to find himself taxed into debt. He wasn't the only one as dozens of soldiers and a lot of citizens over the next five years would be unfairly taxed in currency they didn't have or for income they didn't make. What this led to was the Shay's Rebellion of 1786. While I won't be going into a complete chronicle of what happened, the importance was very real. It not only led to a hotly contested Gubernatorial Election but ramifications that would be settled in the US Constitution.
"Take your taxes and stick them in your ear!!!" - Daniel Shays
When the federal government came down hard in the wake of the Revolutionary War, ex-governor John Hancock defended his citizens by refusing to transfer to hard currency. Not only that, when tax collectors were coming to him claiming people weren't paying their dues, he told them to get lost. When he was about to get in hot water for it, he resigned as Governor and James Bowdoin was elected in 1785 as his replacement. After winning re-election in 1786, Bowdoin upped the taxes and even instituted a property tax. This outraged everyone because switching to hard currency barely had any effect on people living in the cities, but now they had to pay a tax for simply living in a house? Things got so bad that John Adams himself shook his head and said "These levies are heavier than People could bear."
At first, Shays and his crew wanted to do it legally and by the book. When Hancock lost the election and the property tax was passed with no way to fight it, they requested a hearing with the state legislature. When the legislature adjourned without even listening to the citizens, it was time to get violent. On August 29, the Northampton County Court was set to meet but Shays and rebels known as "The Regulators" prevented the court from meeting. Days later Governor Bowdoin shook his fist, stomped his feet and said "You'll pay for this!" The problem was the Continental Army was dissolved following the Revolutionary War and General George Washington was happily retired in Mount Vernon. Bowdoin had to organize a state militia to prevent The Regulators from stopping the court from meeting in Worcester. The problem was, the mistreatment of the Continental soldiers after the war turned most anyone he could recruit into sympathizers instead.
To make matters worse, Rhode Island's state legislature was taken over by the general populace and instituted its own plan to absolve its citizens of debt. Things almost got ugly on September 26th when former War general William Shepard organized 300 Massachusetts militia men to stand guard in Springfield. Shays had 150 Regulators with him, but they didn't get violent, just mostly standing around giving the finger and blowing raspberries at the militia men. Shepard managed to amass 800 soldiers in total and the rebels peacefully backed off.
Things were getting so bad that Massachusetts Speaker of the house James Warren wrote to John Adams basically saying this is civil war. So far nothing truly ugly happened apart from standing around shaking their fists at each other. It didn't help that Samuel Adams called for habeas corpus to be suspended which would have allowed Bowdoin to lock everyone up with no trial or reason. Again, without going into a total chronicle, things finally got bloody at the end of the year. General Benjamin Lincoln amassed a real army and started battling the Regulators head on. Finally, by February of 1787, Bowdoin used his legislative powers (which would never happen today) to disqualify anyone that took part in the rebellion to ever hold a position of power. Thanks to General Lincoln, General Shepard and John Ashley, the rebellion collapsed. 4,000 rebels were arrested but only a few hundred were ever brought to trial. Of those men, only 18 men were convicted and sentenced to death. Of those men, only two were hung, but that was more to do with the unnecessary looting those rebels had done. Shays himself was pardoned a year later but the ramifications of the rebellion ended up becoming an important factor in several events. The first of which would be the upcoming election.
While Bowdoin and his Mass militia generals glad handed each other for a job well done, the Massachusetts citizens were not happy. Many felt Bowdoin abused his power to create taxes out of nowhere and to tyrannically sign bills and acts to destroy not only the rebellion, but innocent lives in the wake of the aftermath. The Disqualification Act basically ruined the potential careers of anyone that could have made a difference in a legislative role long after the rebellion was over. When April rolled around, Bowdoin realized he was screwed when a familiar face emerged. In a brilliant strategic move, John Hancock resigned as Governor two years earlier just before the federal government came down on him so he could look like the good guy. After many felt Bowdoin botched both his terms as Governor and his handling of the Rebellion, here came Hancock back to take what he never truly lost. When Hancock announced he was running again, the race was over before it began. Benjamin Lincoln, James Warren and Dr. Oliver Prescott threw their hats in the ring as well as several other dignitaries, but the writing was on the wall. Could Bowdoin defeat a focused Hancock this time or would Hancock regain the title that he never lost? Let's find out.
The result? ITS A LANDSLIDE! This time with their basic rights at stake, over 24,000 people voted in this election compared to just 8,231 the year before. The only surprise was President of the Congress of the Confederation Nathanial Gorham finished in fourth place with 81 votes. Thomas Cushing the Lt. Governor mustered only 34 in sixth place. Benjamin Lincoln came in third with 513 votes and some egghead decided to write-in Elisha May, the Attleboro County coroner. Head-to-head, Hancock destroyed Bowdoin 18,475 votes to 5,394.
As mentioned earlier, the ramifications of Shays Rebellion not only affected this election but national politics as well. The rebellion itself wasn't huge front-page news, as Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison that things like this were going to happen. However, as the two political parties began to grow that would take over national politics, one side used the rebellion and similar situations in other states to advocate for a strong central government. The party that advocated for a national senate, congress and president to go along with the states own congress, senate and governor were the "Federalists". Led by Alexander Hamilton, General George Washington and Massachusetts own John Adams, these were the guys that wanted rich and powerful men to be calling the shots. The other party that advocated for the power to the States and the people would be the "Democratic Republicans" led by the previously mentioned Thomas Jefferson. Madison and Jefferson were currently writing what would soon be the national Constitution which would call for senate, Congress, etc and the Bill of Rights. John Hancock spent much of 1787 wary of the impending Constitution because of the transfer of power but at least Madison had the Bill of Rights up his sleeve. With Bowdoin vanquished, Massachusetts felt things would go back to normal under Hancock.
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