The Articles of Confederation of 1776 brought a declaration of war for independence to the British colonies of North America. Although they had all acted in concert to reach this decision, their memories of colonial life under the centralized British monarchy had a lasting effect on their views of what the federal government of their new republic would have the power to do. In the years following the Declaration of Independence, Congress drafted the Articles of Confederation to freely govern the new republic at the federal level. In 1781, all 13 states ratified the Articles of Confederation and the Revolutionary War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation were already beginning to show. Each of the 13 colonies suffered economic setbacks due to the Revolutionary War. The devaluation of the American currency, due to Congress' habit of printing new paper money to cover the new republic's war debt, and the British blockade created high prices for goods. The end of the war certainly did not help the situation as Congress found itself powerless to impose taxes to repay the war debt, powerless to regulate trade with other nations, and powerless to regulate the wages of workers and the price of goods. This unregulated economic climate resulted in citizens taking on a lot of debt as a result. Farmers in western Massachusetts, who watched as banks proceeded to foreclose on their farm mortgages, demanded that the government do something to protect them in their time of financial need. They saw the Massachusetts lower legislative house draft and pass a measure, which included relief measures for them. Under the influence of the peasants' creditors, the Upper House blocked the action of the Lower House, which further infuriated the local peasants. In 1786, an old Continental Army captain, Daniel Shays, led 2,000 armed farmers against the state government. They closed the county courthouses to prevent foreclosure proceedings on their farms and marched on the federal arsenal in Springfield, apparently to arm themselves properly. Finally, in 1787, the Massachusetts state militia put down the rebellion. Both parties were unhappy with the role of the new republic. (or lack thereof) in the crisis. Farmers were unhappy that the government was not taking measures to protect their properties from creditors, and creditors were unhappy that