*With the Independence declared, and the United States on the way to forming a new country, the several states, in many cases, decided that they, too, needed new forms of government.  However, there was considerable debate on exactly how to go about this.

*Most colonists, especially among the Patriots, had a number of fears.  They feared an overly powerful executive, but they feared that a government too responsive to the popular will would be unstable and changeable.  Governments ought to be republican, that is, all power is derived from the people, but for the people to properly grant authority, they must be virtuous.  Virtue depended in turn upon independence, financial and social as well as political, so that the virtuous republican could not be influenced by his master.  The truly virtuous republican likewise made his own way in the world—he was not corrupted by making his living from the work of others, as the landlords did.

*Colonists kept these concerns in mind as the created their new governments, as they all did except Rhode Island and Connecticut, who kept their old charters.

*These new governments had written constitutions.  To a lesser or greater extent they had a weak executive—Pennsylvania did without one at all.  Except in Pennsylvania and Georgia they had bicameral legislatures, and, except in Pennsylvania, they had property qualifications for voting, so that no-one would vote whose vote might be influenced by a creditor or employer.

*The idea arose during the 1770s and early 1780s that constitutions, being instruments of the will of the people, ought to be ratified by special conventions chosen by the people for that purpose, and this was done in most states so that by the end of 1776 ten states had new constitutions.

*However, these constitutions often did not work.  Governors were weak and ineffective, and the frequently elected legislatures (in Pennsylvania, and, indeed, all states by SC, elections were held once a year).  In Pennsylvania it even took two years to pass a law, according to the constitution (an election had to pass before a bill could become law, so that the people could consider it in their voting).

*During the 1780s the states will begin to amend and replace their constitutions with more pragmatic, conservative systems.

*Many of these new governments make efforts to live up to the ideals of the Revolution.  Primogeniture is abolished, as is the establishment of the Church of England.  Jefferson writes in Virginia the ‘Statute of Religious Liberty.’  Every state but Georgia and SC even passes laws against importing slaves from abroad.  However, slavery is like holding a wolf by the ears:  America does not like it, but she does not dare let it go.  To do so would be economically disastrous, might lead to security issues and rebellion, and also creates a vast class of unpropertied freemen who would be dangerous elements in society.

*As the states for constitutions, the United States struggle to create a government of their own in order to prosecute the Revolutionary War more fully.

*Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposes a loose confederation.

*John Dickinson proposes a centralised, nationalistic government.

*Begun in 1776 and completed in 1777, the Articles of Confederation described a loose government for the United States.  Each state could send as many delegates as it wished to the Congress, but each state would only get one vote in total.  There was no executive per se, but merely the President of Congress, who was more like a chairman, and who was assisted by an executive committee of 13 men (one from each state).  Overall, his office was a very weak one.  The Confederation also has no real courts, although it does have the right to adjudicate in a few areas, such as border disputes.  To pass any important law required not just a majority, but a two-thirds majority (9), and this was often hard to get, although not as hard as the unanimous vote needed to amend the Articles.

*The Articles are discussed for years until finally the big states offer to give up their western lands (much to the satisfaction of Maryland, who signs in 1781, making it the legitimate government of America).

*Congress had the power to request money from the states, but not to demand it, although Congress could borrow money from any source that would lend it.

*Congress could print money, and did so with such abandon that ‘not worth a Continental’ became slang for ‘worthless.’  Many states were also issuing their own paper money too, and doing so in such quantities that it lost its value.  They also set their own tariffs on imports and exports, both foreign and domestic, thus messing up trade.  Soon, foreign merchants did not want to do business with America.  No-one trusted the US. [Pass some money around.]

*Congress could also conduct warfare and diplomacy, and here, again, they failed.

*Despite the Peace of Paris, Britain refuses to leave her forts in the Northwest or to pay for slaves released by Lord Dunmore or other officers.  America, of course, did not make restitution to the Loyalists, either.  American and Britain disputed their northern boundary, and Britain began to close trade to America.  Finally, an attempt to make a treaty with Spain fell through because Jay tried to sell the West down the river—the Mississippi River, in fact.

*The Mississippi was the lifeline of the west, and this is important because among its few universally admired acts was the Confederation Congress’ passage of the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.  These made it easy to buy land in the Northwest, and to settle it.  They also included provisions for the creation of states—up to five in the area, to be considered for admission to the union when their population exceeded 60,000.  Finally, in this area, slavery was technically forbidden.

*The Southwest did not get such good development plans, because Kentucky was in the middle of a polite rebellion from Virginia, and John Sevier and the State of Franklin prevailed (however briefly) in what is now Upper East Tennessee (while North Carolina, obviously, did not properly cede her western lands to Congress).  Such disturbances prevented many Ordinances being passed to affect the states south of the Ohio River.

*Unfortunately, many Indians claimed land in the old Northwest, and they were willing to fight for it.  The Iroquois threatened to attack in 1786, and the Miami, Shawnee, Delaware, Ottawa, and Chippewa confederated together for mutual defence.    Around 1791, Little Turtle leads the Miami in war against the United States.  Northwest Territorial Governor Arthur St. Clair (along with some militia from Tennessee) fought them, and suffered a terrible defeat know simply as St. Clair’s Defeat on 4 November, 1791.  In 1794 Mad Anthony Wayne will lead 4,000 troops into the wilderness and defeated the Indians at Fallen Timbers.  Shortly afterwards the Miami signed the Treaty of Greenville, which set the precedent that white men had to buy land from the Indians.

*Unfortunately, in the 1780s, there is no such good news.  Rather, Congress are in deep debt.  They owe money to foreigners and to American merchants.  However, because they cannot levy taxes, they cannot do anything about it, and the US are about to default on their debt, which is large—about $50,000,000.00, and that is just the national debt.

*First of all, immediately after the Revolutionary War ended, Americans celebrated by spending a lot of money on foreign goods, which ultimately created a vast trade deficit—about £5 million.  Under the mercantilist system, of course, this created a dangerous outflow of hard currency, leaving America cash-poor.

*Combined with a post-war depression, the lack of specie hurt debtors badly, as it was hard to pay back their loans.

*Even Congress could not pay their debts, either to Continental soldiers, American creditors, or foreign governments.  Because Congress could not tax, but could only ask for contributions from the states (only about 1/6 of which were ever paid), the US were in danger of defaulting on their loans.

*A group of nationalists emerged who wanted a stronger government.  These included Robert Morris, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison, and they proposed at 5% duty on imported goods called the Continental Impost, which would raise money and strengthen the general government.  In 1781 every state but Rhode Island voted in favour of the Impost, but because it took unanimous agreement to amend the Articles, the motion failed then.  They tried again in 1783.

*The states tried to make money by raising taxes, especially around 1785-6.  Men who held bonds and wanted to be paid back approved this, but farmers were outraged, especially in New England, where there is perhaps the most diversity in economic interest (having both important farming and commercial interests).

*Many banks call in their loans, including the Bank of North America, the Bank of New York and the Bank of Massachusetts.  When debtors cannot pay, their property is seized.

*By 1786, many men, especially western farmers, cannot pay either their personal debts or the state taxes.
*In Rhode Island, farmers take charge of the state Assembly through the electoral process and begin a programme of farm relief that scares everyone else.  Most notably, perhaps, they print money at a fixed rate and require creditors to accept it at face value even though it’s worth far less.  The creditors feel cheated and defrauded on loans made in good faith.

*In western Massachusetts, it’s even worse.

*Massachusetts in particular was controlled by its eastern merchants and commercial interests.

*Massachusetts was deep in debt, mostly to rich American merchants who had loaned the state money during the war, and these men started to call in their loans.  To raise money, Massachusetts passed the heaviest direct tax ever, and required it all be paid in specie—just as the British had done 20 years before.

*In the western parts of the states, poor farmers had trouble paying the tax, especially in gold and silver.  Farms and property were seized, and people got angry.

*By 1786, 1/3 of Massachusetts farmers (mostly in the western part of the state) are being sued for debt, and the jails are becoming filled with men who are considered respectable members of their communities.  Another such man, a respected farmer and Revolutionary War veteran, Daniel Shays, decided something has to be done to protect their liberty and property.

*Shays organises resistance to the Massachusetts government.  He and his men make several demands:
1. print paper money to increase the money supply
2. tax relief
3. moratorium on debts
4. removal of the state capital from Boston to the interior
5. abolition of imprisonment for debt

*By the summer of 1786, armed bands, many of their members Revolutionary War veterans, prevented the collection of debts or the sale of seized property by preventing courts from sitting, sheriffs from collecting property, seizing men, or auctioning off confiscated property.  The east is scared, and even Samuel Adams calls Shays’ men rebels and traitors.

*January, 1787:  State militiamen, funded through loans from wealthy businessmen, attack Shays’ men at Springfield, killing several and capturing many more, including Shays.  He and his men are sentenced to death, but are later pardoned and some of his demands are granted (tax relief and the postponement of debt payments).

*Despite this ending to the rebellion, it, as well as frontier state movements, Indian warfare, international problems, and the general imbecility of the general government lead some men to attempt to reform or, if need be, replace the Articles of Confederation.

*By 1786, enough people will be disgusted with the ineffectualness of the Articles of Confederation that they will consider changing them, or possibly even replacing them, thus (according to some) completing or (according to others) reversing the American Revolution.
 

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