Constitution of the United States

Context

The presence of a common enemy had inspired the thirteen colonies to cooperate during the American War of Independence. After declaring independence from Great Britain, the thirteen American colonies adopted new constitutions for themselves and for the union that bound them together. The U.S. Constitution, which in 1787 proposed the federal government in the form known in the modern era, was in fact the second national constitution. The Articles of Confederation, enacted in 1781 as the first national constitution, provided for a weak central government that was little more than a league of friendship.

At the state level, despite universal support for the concept of separation of powers, assemblies were dominant. State constitutions placed few or no controls upon the actions of state assemblies, which were elected annually. Few problems surfaced until the inevitable postwar depression developed beginning in mid-1784. Farmers were overproducing, but their markets, particularly in the West Indies, were restricted. Consequently, prices for American agricultural produce plunged. At the same time, taxes were raised, as Congress and the state legislatures had heavy war debts to pay, to both foreign and domestic creditors. Individuals and organizations that could not pay their taxes or their debts had their property confiscated by local authorities and sold at public auction. Debtors petitioned their assemblies for relief, and half of the states succumbed; in the other states, violence occurred. In western Virginia, courthouses were burned, destroying tax records. In Massachusetts, farmers in the western counties forcibly closed the civil courts in order to forestall future foreclosures on farms. Creditors, in the minority, worried that state assemblies would yield to vocal majorities—the debtors—and enact measures that would endanger their property rights. Anti-creditor legislation, some modest, some radical, coupled with violence throughout the country frightened men like George Washington who believed that there were “combustibles” in every state ready to be ignited by a single spark.

A small group of nationalists had wanted a more powerful central government, but their efforts in drafting the Articles of Confederation had failed, as did their efforts to amend them and to give the Congress of the Confederation additional powers. The states were clearly less willing than they had been to abide by the dictates of Congress. Finally, those who wished to preserve the Union decided to move outside of Congress and call a convention of the states to propose amendments to the articles. The Constitutional Convention convened in May of 1787. With George Washington and Benjamin Franklin present at the convention, a predilection swept over the country to accept whatever the convention proposed. Over the next year, Americans participated in a profound public debate over government and how best to preserve liberty. Many Americans viewed the Constitutional Convention as a last opportunity to peacefully adopt a viable federal constitution that would preserve the Union, promote justice and prosperity, and provide defense from both external aggression and domestic insurrection, and the entire country waited anxiously while delegates deliberated in secret for four months.

Controversy raged between delegates from the large and small states, between delegates from the northern and southern states, and between those who were nationalists and those who supported merely strengthening the existing confederation. Several compromises were eventually made, and a unique new form of government was presented to the states for ratification. After almost a year of public debate, the new U.S. Constitution was adopted, and Congress called for the first federal elections. Two years later the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution, taking away one of the primary fears of the document’s opponents—that it would reduce individual freedoms. Without the Constitution, the United States might have progressed much differently. The country could have developed a parliamentary system of government, adopted a monarchy, returned into the British Empire, or divided into multiple regional confederacies. Instead, the Constitution helped develop a large, powerful, and prosperous federal republic. However, since it failed to resolve the slavery issue, the Constitution aggravated the country’s preexisting sectionalism and ultimately led to civil war.