Even as the Constitutional Convention is meeting in Philadelphia, the fallout from one of the "causes" of it is reaching its tragic conclusion. Captain Henry Gale is a hero of the Revolutionary war. But he is also one of the leaders of last year's Shay's Rebellion. For that, he has been sentenced by the State of Massachusetts to death by hanging. As he languishes in jail, there is seemingly no hope.
The great question is whether or not a man who fought for Independence, and then rebelled against his home State when it denied those rights and freedoms for which he fought, should be executed or rewarded? The state of Massachusetts has had its say. The Convention will not finish in time and even if it does, it won't be ratified until long after Captain Gale has hung.
The tension is building. did we win our freedom from Great Britain only to have it replaced by State Governments? Who will speak for the condemned man?
Is this what the United States has become just five years after the end of the war?
What will the Convention do as it considers the powers it wants to bestow on the new Government?
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General rated as the BEST episode of Constitution Thursday, it is based on the marvelous book, Shays' Rebellion: The Hanging of Co-Leader, Captain Henry Gale, by Lisa Saunders, a descendent of Henry Gale. It is, without a doubt, one of the most amazing stories I have ever read and I cannot recommend the book highly enough. -ΘΈ
