*The United States were not always governed by the Constitution we know about to-day.  During the Revolution, the country was run by the Second Continental Congress on an emergency basis, and in the 1780s, the country operated under the Articles of Confederation, but it did not operate smoothly.

*Review briefly the battles of the Revolution, particularly mentioning Saratoga and the French, Kings Mountain, Yorktown and the Peace of Paris.

*In the Peace of Paris, 1783, Great Britain recognised the independence of the United States, set the northern border of the US where it presently is with Canada (more or less), established the Mississippi as the border between the US and Spanish Louisiana, with the Mississippi forever open to navigation by both nations and Great Britain, gave Florida back to Spain, required British troops to be removed from US territory, and secured the liberty and property (and remuneration) for Loyalists.  Some of this happened, some did not.

*During the war, Congress was made up of varying numbers of delegates from each of the colonies.  It did not matter how many were present from a given state, as each state got one vote regardless of size or wealth.  Congress had a president, but he was essentially a chairman running the debate rather than an important figure in his own right.

*In 1777, the Articles of Confederation were proposed, but they were not adopted until 1781.

*The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states for the purposes of defence, commerce, and foreign diplomacy.  A unicameral Congress (with each state again having one vote) had both legislative and executive powers.  There was no national judiciary—the state had the highest courts.

*Although Congress could conduct diplomacy, wage war, and borrow money, they could not impose taxes on the states—they could only ask for contributions, which sometimes came and sometimes did not.

*The state constitutions and governments remained important and powerful.  In many ways they were more important than Congress.  Some were especially interesting and introduced new ideas.

*Pennsylvania, which had the most progressive constitution (adopted in 1776), gave the right to vote to all white males 21 years old or older who paid taxes.  This was the first universal manhood suffrage in the US.  Pennsylvania also had a unicameral legislature and elections every year to keep lawmakers accountable to the people.

*Because the state government was the most important level of government in the minds of most Americans, many people wanted to keep the national government small, weak, and distant—they feared another tyranny like that of Great Britain.  A few did not want a weak government, though.  These people were called nationalists.  The most famous of them were Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and George Washington.  They were correct in noting that the Confederation government had problems.

*By 1786 the US had an immense debt—about $50 million, thanks to money borrowed during the War and afterwards.

*Congress issued Continental Dollars, but soon printed too much paper money, and it ended up being worthless.

*Many states were 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.

*Finally, many states had conflicting land claims, especially (but not exclusively) west of the Appalachian Mountains, and this occasionally led to armed conflict.

*There were other problems, too, but Congress could not deal with any of them.  Congress could not tax the colonies to get money to pay off their debts or solidify the Continental dollar.  Congress could do nothing to regulate state currencies or trade policies.  Finally, although Congress had some power over boundary disputes and land claims, not much was ever done.  Congress was, on the whole, weak and ineffectual in terms of managing commerce and interstate relations.

*To try to do something, a group of Nationalists met in Annapolis, Maryland in 1786.  The Annapolis Convention was meant to find a way to resolve some of their trade disputes.  They did not accomplish much, as only 5 states bothered to send delegates, and only 12 in total showed up.  However, they agreed to meet again in Philadelphia the next year for another convention that would try to fix the Articles of Confederation.

*Between these two conventions something happened that made a lot of people favour the Nationalists’ position:  Shays Rebellion.

*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.

*Daniel Shays was one of these farmers.  A veteran of the war, he saw his liberties being threatened, and, in 1786, he led a group of fellow farmer-veterans in driving off tax officials and sheriffs so taxes could not be collected and lands could not be seized.

*The rich folks on the east coast were frightened by Shays’ rebellion, which gained a lot of support and seemed likely to spread east—and possibly even posed a danger to the government in Boston.

*The Massachusetts legislature raises an army and sends it west.  Shays’ men were defeated in January, 1787, and Shays and some of his associates were sentenced to death.  Shays appealed and eventually won his freedom.

*This rebellion frightened all kinds of Americans.  Many of the more influential feared that similar rebellions might arise all over the country.  It also showed that the existing government structure was fiscally and militarily troubled.  Therefore, more people became sympathetic to the Nationalists.

*In May, 1787, delegates from 12 states (all but Rhode Island) arrived in Philadelphia.  They will discuss just what needs to be done about the government, and will decide that the Articles of Confederation cannot be fixed, but must be replaced.
 

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