In  some  of  the  states  rebellion  was  already  raising  its  horrid
front,  threatening  the  overthrow  of  all  regular  government
and  the  inauguration  of  universal  anarchy.  It  is  difl5cult  for
us  to  conceive  of  the  panic  which  Shays's  rebellion  in  Massa-
chusetts spread  throughout  the  country,  and  of  the  peril  to
whioh  the  whole  fabric  of  society  was  exposed  from  organized
bands  of  ten  or  fifteen  thousand  armed  men  bent  on  cancelling,
at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  all  public  and  private  indebtedness,
and  excited  to  madness  with  lust  of  plunder.  Ah !  what  a
picture  of  general  gloom  and  distress,  of  patriot  anguish  and
despair,  is  presented  in  the  contemporary  history  of  the  con-
federate government."


ADOPTION  OF   THE   CONSTITUTION.  63


SECTION  m.
PRCCEBDINGS    WHICH   DIRECTLY   LED    TO    THE   ADOPTION   OF    THE
CONSTITUTION.
