The Constitution's Origins: Events Leading To Its Creation

The United States Constitution was written during a hot summer in 1787 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by 55 delegates to a Constitutional Convention. The convention was ostensibly called to amend the Articles of Confederation, the country's first constitution, which had been ratified in 1781. However, the delegates soon decided to completely redesign the government, giving more power to the central government and addressing the Articles' lack of enforcement powers, inability to regulate commerce, and inability to print money. The delegates also grappled with the contentious issue of slavery, ultimately agreeing to a series of compromises, including the Three-Fifths Compromise, which counted enslaved Africans as three-fifths of a person for representation purposes. The Constitution was signed by 39 delegates on September 17, 1787, and subsequently sent to the states for ratification. New Hampshire became the ninth and final state needed for ratification on June 21, 1788, officially establishing the Constitution as the new framework for the United States government.

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The Boston Tea Party

On the night of December 16, 1773, disguised as Native Americans, the Sons of Liberty boarded the Dartmouth, a British ship that had docked in Boston carrying a major shipment of East India Company tea. They threw 342 chests of tea, weighing over 90,000 pounds (45 tons), into Boston Harbor. The British government considered the protest an act of treason and responded harshly. Nine days later, on December 25, at the Philadelphia Tea Party, American patriots similarly protested the arrival of a British tea shipment, sending the ship back to England without unloading it.

The Declaration of Independence

Following the Declaration of Independence, the Second Continental Congress continued to meet until 1781, during which they adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first governing document of the newly independent states. The Articles of Confederation created a loose confederation of sovereign states, with a weak central government that lacked the power to regulate commerce, print money, or collect taxes. This weakness in the central government became increasingly apparent after the war, as divisions among the states and local rebellions, such as Shays' Rebellion in 1786, threatened to tear the young nation apart.

The flaws in the Articles of Confederation and the need to strengthen the federal government led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which was convened to draft what would become the United States Constitution. The delegates, including James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington, met in Philadelphia to revise the Articles, but ultimately decided to completely redesign the government. They grappled with questions of congressional representation and the thorny issue of slavery, ultimately compromising on a bicameral legislature with a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Constitution was signed by 39 delegates on September 17, 1787, and the ratification process began, with New Hampshire becoming the ninth and final state needed to ratify it on June 21, 1788.

The Articles of Confederation

The Articles gave the Confederation Congress the power to make rules and request funds from the states, but it had no enforcement powers, couldn't regulate commerce, print money, or impose taxes. The national government's inability to act during Shays' Rebellion in Massachusetts (1786-87) highlighted the weaknesses of the Articles, as divisions among the states and local rebellions threatened to destroy the fruits of the Revolution.

The Articles were also flawed in that they deprived the national government of many essential powers, including direct taxation and the ability to regulate interstate commerce. The states' disputes over territory, war pensions, taxation, and trade threatened to tear the young country apart.

The Articles went into effect after ratification by the states, and the first Confederation Congress met on November 5, 1781, electing John Hanson as its president. However, the Articles' shortcomings became increasingly apparent, and it was clear that a new federal constitution was needed to strengthen the national government.

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Shay's Rebellion

Shays' Rebellion was an armed uprising in Western Massachusetts and Worcester between 1786 and 1787. It was a response to a debt crisis among citizens and the state government's increased efforts to collect taxes on individuals and their trades. The rebellion was led by Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays, who protested against economic and civil rights injustices by the Massachusetts government.

The rebellion was a reaction to the harsh economic conditions that followed the American Revolutionary War. Continental Army and state militia veterans were particularly affected, as many received little pay or reimbursement for their military service. As a result, rural farmers began to lose their land and property to debt collectors, causing widespread unrest. In September 1786, Henry Lee wrote to George Washington, expressing concern about the restlessness, which he believed was not confined to a single state but rather affected the whole nation.

Daniel Shays, a former Continental Army Captain, played a significant role in the rebellion. Shays had previously participated in the Northampton action and took an active role in the uprising in November, although he denied being one of its leaders. Shays and other local leaders led several hundred men in forcing the Supreme Court in Springfield to adjourn, preventing the execution of foreclosures and debt processes.

In January 1787, Shays led an attack on the federal arsenal at Springfield with a force of about 1,200 men, but they were repulsed. Pursued by the militia, Shays was decisively defeated at Petersham in February and fled to Vermont. The rebellion resulted in the indictment of eleven leaders, including Shays, as "disorderly, riotous, and seditious persons." Eighteen men were sentenced to death, but most had their sentences commuted or pardoned, with only John Bly and Charles Rose being hanged in December 1787.

Shays' Rebellion had significant political ramifications, highlighting the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and the need for a stronger central government. It energized calls to reevaluate the Articles of Confederation and gave impetus to the Constitutional Convention, which began in May 1787. The rebellion contributed to the creation of a stronger federal government capable of addressing the pressing economic and political needs of the young nation.

The Constitutional Convention

Nationalists, led by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington, advocated for a stronger federal government and worked to convene a national constitutional convention in Philadelphia in 1787. The convention was held in the State House, also known as Independence Hall, during the hot summer of that year. The delegates took an oath of secrecy, shuttered the windows, and met behind closed doors to ensure privacy for their discussions.

The convention was tasked with revising the Articles of Confederation, but by mid-June, it had become clear that a complete redesign of the government was necessary. One of the fiercest debates was over congressional representation, with delegates arguing for representation based on population or equal representation for each state. A compromise was reached, known as the Great Compromise, which established a bicameral legislature with a Senate, where each state had equal representation, and a House of Representatives, where representation was based on a state's population.

Another contentious issue was slavery. Some Southern delegates threatened to abandon the convention if their demands to legalise slavery and the slave trade were not met. The framers of the Constitution eventually adopted a proposal known as the Three-Fifths Compromise, which allowed the slave trade to continue until 1808 and counted enslaved Africans as three-fifths of a person for representation purposes.

The final version of the Constitution was signed by 39 delegates on September 17, 1787, and the process of ratification by the states began. The new Constitution established a stronger central government and defined the principal organs of government, their jurisdictions, and the basic rights of citizens. It replaced the Articles of Confederation as the supreme law of the land and laid the foundation for the United States of America as we know it today.

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