Shays's Rebellion

[Jan Kammert]

I teach middle school, and my students are just starting on the
Constitution.  Reading the Constitution is a big challenge for them, and
I'm always impressed with the questions they ask.

Today it was about Shays's Rebellion, an event that most history books
discuss as one of the reasons the country moved from the Articles of
Confederation to the Constitution.  Most books spell it Shays's.  The
leader was Daniel Shays.  I have always heard it pronounced Shays not
Shay-es.

We had a good discussion about this, but I could not explain why what I
think should either be spelled Shays' or pronounced Shay-es isn't.  Any
ideas?
Jan