Shays’ Rebellion Reading

This worksheet helps students in Grades 5 and 6 strengthen reading comprehension, document analysis, historical reasoning, and evidence identification through an eyewitness-style account of Shays’ Rebellion. Students read a narrative passage describing events surrounding the uprising and underline phrases that reveal weaknesses of the national government under the Articles of Confederation, focusing on problems such as funding, enforcement, and crisis response.

Academic Focus

• Shays’ Rebellion & Government Weakness (Grades 5-6) – Students understand how the rebellion exposed flaws in the Articles of Confederation.
• Identifying Evidence in Text – Learners practice locating and highlighting specific phrases that support a historical claim.
• Causes for Constitutional Change – The activity reinforces why many Americans believed a stronger national government was necessary.
• Analyzing Historical Narratives – Students interpret an eyewitness-style account to draw conclusions about government effectiveness.

Instructional Benefits

• Teacher-Created Resource – Designed by educators to align with upper-elementary social studies and ELA standards.
• Primary-Source Style Reading – Narrative format helps students engage with history in an accessible, meaningful way.
• Flexible Classroom Use – Works well for close reading, guided practice, assessments, or small-group instruction.
• Builds Evidence-Based Thinking – Encourages students to support conclusions using direct textual proof.
• Low-Prep Printable – Ready to use in classroom or homeschool settings.

This Shays’ Rebellion reading worksheet helps students connect historical events with broader constitutional consequences. By identifying textual evidence of government weakness, learners deepen their understanding of early American challenges, improve analytical reading skills, and gain clearer insight into why the Articles of Confederation were eventually replaced.

This worksheet is part of our Articles of Confederation Worksheets collection.