On May 25, 1787, delegates from the states descended upon Philadelphia in order to strengthen the American national government. The result of the convention, which lasted until September, was the United States Constitution, the blueprint for the republican government that has lasted for more than 200 years. The convention began, however, because of the inability of the government at the time to accomplish anything.
In 1781, at the height of the American Revolution, the 13 American states ratified the Articles of Confederation, a working national government. The state delegates, however, were leery of vesting too much power in the new government, fearing that it could too easily resemble the tyranny in Britain that the states were fighting against. To that end, each state was given one vote in Congress, and the government had severely limited powers over the states.
George Washington, committed to the ideals of civilian government, nevertheless struggled with the weak government and its inability to provide for the needs of the military. Because the government had no real power to tax, officers and men frequently went without pay, food and supplies. Things got so bad that in 1781 Robert Morris, the government's Superintendent of Finance, ended up writing personal checks to cover the expenses of the army, which amounted to roughly $750,000 adjusted for today's inflation.
When Britain finally recognized American independence in 1783, many wondered if there was indeed a future for an American national government, or indeed an “America” beyond a simple geographic term. Now that the fighting was done, many Americans believed that the focus of their allegiance should be their home state, not a vague and transitory national government that, once again, could prove just as tyrannical as that in London. After all, the best government was local government.
The Articles of Confederation had been based upon the Delian League, the “firm league of friendship” that existed in fifth century B.C. Greece. The league had started out as a purely defensive military alliance between many Greek city-states against the Persian threat. Indeed, that is what many Americans thought of the American national government — a convenient military alliance that would defeat Britain and then keep it at bay, but certainly not a true national government in the strictest sense.
Still, there were others who saw the potential of a nation that could span a continent; a centralized government that nevertheless allowed for significant powers to be retained by the states as a check against federal power. John Adams had stated in 1776 that “the most intricate, the most important, the most dangerous and delicate business” after the victory over Britain would be the creation of a national government. In the book, “Alexander Hamilton,” biographer Ron Chernow wrote:
“Money problems pervaded all others under the Articles of Confederation. America was virtually bankrupt as the federal government and state governments found it impossible to retire the gargantuan debt inherited from the Revolution. On European securities exchanges, investors expressed skepticism about American's survival by trading its securities at a small fraction of their face values. 'The fate of America was suspended by a hair' (New York representative) Gouverneur Morris was to say.”
In short, America had mounting debts and no power to raise revenue. Attempts by the Congress to impose taxes were either met with contempt from the states or ignored. In the diplomatic arena, the Congress proved just as powerless. Britain flooded American markets with goods, yet closed British ports to American trade, which only added to America's money problems. Additionally, the British refused to abandoned forts on American soil in violation of the 1783 Treaty of Paris. The United States lacked the revenue to raise an army to kick them out, nor could they apply any diplomatic pressure against them. To make matters worse, the Spanish were making claims against America's access to the Mississippi River.
These problems also exacerbated internal conflicts as well. The eastern counties of New York, what would soon be Vermont, threatened to secede from the empire state and a mini-civil war soon broke out. In Rhode Island and Virginia, armed mobs had stormed courthouses. The biggest insurrection, however, occurred in Massachusetts when revolutionary veteran Daniel Shays led a rebellion against the state government. Several months passed before it was put down.
When Americans considered the nation's worsening money situation, its impotence in the face of foreign governments, and its slow institutional response to internal disorder, the need for a stronger federal government became more apparent. In September 1786, five states sent delegations to Annapolis, Maryland, where they called for all the states to send representatives to a convention that would discuss changes to the Articles of Confederation, perhaps giving it enough power to deal with these issues.
Three informal camps emerged. Traditionalists, who feared the power of a large, centralized government and wanted no changes to the Articles; moderates, who wanted to tinker with the Articles, allowing for a some limited new powers to the federal government; and nationalists, who advocated scrapping the Articles of Confederation completely and replacing it with an entirely new form of government. Figures such as Washington, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton all belonged to the last camp.
Washington, however, had no desire to attend such a convention, even if it did mean fixing the nation's problems. Washington looked to the example of Cincinnatus, the Roman republican who had taken up the sword to defend his country from barbarians, but gave up power once the crisis was over and went back to his farm. Washington, the most respected American at the time, did not want to muddy his name by getting involved with politics.
Still, Madison and others prevailed upon him to attend. Most of the nationalists feared that only the moral weight of Washington's participation could sell the idea of a new government to the American people. Additionally, Washington had already agreed to attend a meeting of the Society of the Cincinnati, a veterans' organization, in New York City in May. Despite his protests, however, the nationalists continued to pressure him to attend.
In his book, “Washington: A Life,” Chernow wrote: “On March 28 Washington wrote to (Virginia) Governor (Edmund) Randolph and submitted to his fate: he would indeed attend the convention. He made it clear that he was doing so involuntarily and only submitting to the entreaties of friends. In Washington's life, however, one commitment led ineluctably to the next, and he acknowledged that his attendance would have 'a tendency to sweep me back into the tide of public affairs.'”
Though the convention was scheduled to begin on May 14, a quorum of seven state delegations was required before any work could begin. Finally, on May 25, enough delegates had arrived and the convention got underway. The body's first action was to elect Washington the president of the convention, ensuring that the nationalist faction would have a strong advocate leading the proceedings. Also, the body decided to pass a secrecy rule, a promise that the delegates would not discuss the proceedings with outsiders — a move that sparked suspicion among many Americans. From his home state of Virginia revolutionary Patrick Henry said of the convention: “I smell a rat.”
The convention met in the Pennsylvania State House, in the same room where, 11 years earlier, the Declaration of Independence had been signed. Historian Joseph J. Ellis noted in his book, “The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789” that the decision to hold the convention in the same place where American independence was born was not a coincidence. Rather, it represented — consciously or unconsciously on the part of the nationalists — a desire to show the American people that a new government was a continuation, not a repudiation, of the American Revolution.
In “Alexander Hamilton,” Chernow describes the venue: “It had the dignity and simplicity for these right-minded republicans. Delegates sat in Windsor chairs, arranged in fan-shaped rows in front Washington's high-backed wooden chair, and jotted notes on tables covered with green baize. The tall windows were partly obscured by drooping green drapes. The room provided an intimate setting for these deliberations.”
The following 15 weeks saw numerous meetings, debates, compromises and deals as the delegates created the United States Constitution. Finished and signed in September 1787, the Constitution became the working government of the United States in March 1789.
Cody K. Carlson holds a master's in history from the University of Utah and teaches at Salt Lake Community College. An avid player of board games, he blogs at thediscriminatinggamer.com. Email: ckcarlson76@gmail.com