Having no ideological and political background, most of the destructive riots and uprisings simply aimed at requiring the relief from hardships of life, and demonstrating their displeasure against the taxation and conscription imposed anew, and all of them ceased in the end when suppressed by Edo bakufu, domains, or the Meiji government.
打ちこわしや一揆そのものは生活苦の改善や新規の徴税や徴兵に反対するものが中心であり、思想的・政治的な背景に欠くもので、最終的には幕府・諸藩・明治政府のいずれかの兵に鎮圧されて終わった。