The Development to The United States Constitution Essay

Thus creating the document which gave little to no respect and power to the central government to intervene when rebellions and riots began to occur. Under the articles almost all the states in the union were in serious debts and had currency that were worth nothing. With what we may call a recession today, rebellions began to rise to fight mainly the tax appointment that was putting many citizens in deep debt. One of the famous rebellions, Shays rebellion, was what many see as the last straw before having to reassemble and create a new constitution. With the problems form the articles five states met together in September 1786 to discuss trading problems but slowly transitioning to talk about how to improve the country’s well being. The men at this conference then went about to invite all the states representatives to a conference to discuss the revise the constitution. The invitation to this constitution began to show the divide in the peoples opinion and what further would be seen as political parties. Some of the states saw the constitutional convention as a conspiracy to create a central government with too much power, while other states felt that it was necessary with all the chaos that was occurring without one. With the ratification process finally beginning concerns were voiced; namely how to develop the structure of development, the

However, an uprising led by Revolutionary War captain Daniel Shays that took place in western Massachusetts in 1786 was the event that got the attention of the founding fathers. The Shay’s Rebellion demonstrated to the founding fathers that the Articles of Confederation brought commercial problems, threaten civil order, and conflicts between states. Likewise, at the constitutional convention the founding fathers crafted and ratified the U.S constitution to address the problem the Articles of Confederation could not tackle. Unlike the Articles of Confederation, the divided the powers of the national government into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. Furthermore, the constitution established a one true currency system and presented the job duties and requirements the three branches and individual states. Unlike the Articles of Confederation, the constitution presented the rights of its people (Bill of Rights) and a system of check of balance and separation of powers that the United States as democratic country. The Articles of Confederation was a popular democracy with its chaotic results and the constitution was a responsible democracy with its civilized outcomes.

The Revolutionary War effectively ended on October 17th, 1781. Having successfully won independence, that task shifted to maintaining independence. The newly independent ‘United’ States, faced an array of issues, and proved to be anything but united under the existing Articles of Confederation. In hindsight, analyzing the arguments against the articles, as well as the

“What stronger evidence can be given of the want of energy in our governments than these disorders [Shay’s Rebellion]? If there exists not a power to check them, what security has a man for life, liberty, or property?” In this small excerpt taken from George Washington's letter to James Madison in November 5, 1786 we can observe how the Articles of Confederation is taking a negative toll in the newly born independent country. As a result of the poorly formed government established by the Articles of Confederation, rebellion began to arise amongst the states such as Shay’s Rebellion. As seen in the excerpt, because of the states not having a greater authority to check on them, many of the states imposed unfair tariffs and laws amongst its citizens, causing disorder and conflict.

Based on your interpretation of the course text, explain the framers’ (framers’ of the U.S. Constitution) position on the Presidency:

Following the United States’ independence from Great Britain, the Articles of Confederation were formed in order to hold the country together politically. The Articles proved inefficient, as Congress couldn’t collect taxes or regulate interstate commerce, the government couldn’t raise an army, there was no national currency and most importantly, there was no central government. But the spark that triggered Americans’ realization that they needed to call a constitutional convention happened after an event in Massachusetts in 1786, called Shays’ Rebellion.

The greatest effects of the American Revolution lie in the political changes of American society between 1775 and 1800. The changes brought about during these times laid the foundation for the strong government of today. Although their first attempt at a Constitution did not succeed, the Articles of Confederation was a very important document in American history. It was ratified in 1781 and lasted until 1789. It had a weak central government and faced problems such as Shay's Rebellion, the Newburgh Conspiracy, a large amount of debt, and other problems with farmers, merchants, artisans, and manufacturers. There were four main reasons the central government faced these problems:

After a personnel investigation secretary of war Henry Knox, a proponent of a strong federal government, reported to congress the activities of the “regulators” was a full scale rebellion and to some degree misrepresented(possibly unintentionally) their cause in a more negative light, portraying them as anarchists(Philips). Knox identified the national arsenal at Springfield as vulnerable and after raising a privately funded militia army(because no national army existed) and intercepting a note revealing the plans of the rebels to seize Springfield he defeated them and the rebellion fizzled out with sporadic violence against wealthy landowners(Philips). Though ultimately unsuccessful, Shay’s rebellion which occurred 1786 -1787 still played an important role in the history of the U.S by underscoring the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, which were also outlined around the same time by the Annapolis convention 1786. The events of the rebellion were surely present in the minds of the delegates at the Philadelphia convention a year later, where in complete secret, the Articles of Confederation were done away with rather than improved and replaced by the much stronger United States Constitution.

In 1786, debt-ridden farmers in Massachusetts organized an insurrection, now known as Shays’ Rebellion, against the state government. These farmers were struck by the economic depression that followed the American Revolution and they petitioned the state senate to issue paper money and to halt foreclosure of mortgages on their property. When the state senate failed to pass reforms, armed insurgents under the leadership of Daniel Shays and others, began forcibly to prevent the county courts from sitting to make judgments for debt. The ineffectiveness of the state government in ending the Rebellion was obvious and many Americans realized that the Articles of Confederation had to be revised. The Articles gave Congress virtually

Aiming to prevent the central government from getting too strong, the executive and judicial branches was made weak deliberately, for in drafters’ view they are more likely to subject to despotic individuals. The legislative branch was a unicameral congress where each state had one vote. Limited powers was assigned to pass bills about domestic and foreign affairs. The passing of common bill would require 9 votes and the amendment of the Articles itself would require thirteenWhile the former process works only in theory, for unanimous agreement required for ratification was almost impossible considering the various and often conflicting interest between states. To some degree, it was this unworkable amendment process that allowed the making of the Constitution of 1787, which turned out to be revolutionary.

By the late eighteenth century, America found itself independent from England; which was a welcomed change, but also brought with it, its own set of challenges. The newly formed National Government was acting under the Articles of Confederation, which established a “firm league of friendship” between the states, but did not give adequate power to run the country. To ensure the young nation could continue independently, Congress called for a Federal Convention to convene in Philadelphia to address the deficiencies in the Articles of Confederation. While the Congress only authorized the convention to revise and amend the Articles the delegates quickly set out to develop a whole new Constitution for the country. Unlike the Articles of

The dust has settled and the land was calm now, the war was over and there is now peace. The colonies, now the United States, has won the war against the British and they are now independent. A fresh new country now at peace with the world around them, is about to have an unexpected and important rebellion that will shape the image of this country and it’s government, Shay’s Rebellion. A tear in the Articles of Confederation will make an American Revolution veteran, Daniel Shays, and others, to gather debtors who want to fight, to get rid of the first and broken American constitution. The Articles of Confederation was the original U.S constitution. It was made legal by the Continental Congress with a lot debate and changes to its early document.

The farmers had the hardest time with the money shortage because they could not earn enough to pay their taxes and debts. Shay led his followers to close down courthouses so that judges could not take away their farms. The group went with weapons and because the Continental Army was disbanded Congress could not stop them. Massachusetts eventually ended Shay’s Rebellion, sending militia troops to halt the protesting. “Madison wrote to a friend. ‘It is not possible that a government can last long under these circumstances’” (Frey, 2004: 105). Congress, after dealing with Shay’s Rebellion called for a convention to come up with a solution to fix all the problems that the Articles of Confederation was creating.

Shays’ Rebellion is the name given to a series of protests in 1786 and 1787 by American farmers against state and local enforcement of tax collections and judgments for debt. (Shays’ Rebellion. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2015, from http://www.history.com/topics/shays-rebellion). The rebellion was most serious in Massachusetts, where bad harvests, economic depression, and high taxes endangered farmers with the loss of their farms. The rebellion took its name from the symbolic frontrunner, Daniel Shays of Massachusetts, a former captain in the Continental army. It all began summer of 1786 in Massachusetts. The rebels had tried to capture the federal arsenal at Springfield and harassed leading merchants, lawyers, and supporters of the sate government. General Benjamin Lincoln, crushed many of the rebels in several engagements in the winter of 1787. Shay and the other principal figures had first fled to Rhode Island then to Vermont. Even this never seriously threatened or endangered the stability of the United States, Shay’s Rebellion greatly alarmed politicians throughout the nation. Advocates of constitutional reform at the national level cited the rebellion as justification for revision or replacement of the Articles of Confederation, and Shay’s Rebellion figured prominently in the debates over the framing and ratification of the

The constitution of the United States is broad in its sense that the original framers knew that over time it could be interpreted in a different way with the changing social and political conditions over the course of time. The U.S. has had its history of racial discrimination within the Supreme Court rulings, and in Peter Irons A Peoples History Of The United States, the author examines the different decisions in major Supreme Court cases. From decisions that led up to the civil war to post civil, these cases have fundamentally shaped and gave different meanings to amendments that have guided America to where it is now.