1783-1787
From Confederacy
to Republic
What were the challenges facing the
newly independent nation?
ECONOMIC
POLITICAL
Articles of Confederation
(Adopted in 1777 – Ratified in 1781)
Problems addressed by the A-of-C:
Problem: Fear of a strong central government.
Solution:
Problem: Representation in Conf. Congress.
Solution:
Powers Granted, and Powers Denied
to the Confederation Congress
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GRANTED
Power to wage war
Make treaties
Send diplomats abroad
Borrow money
Regulate the currency
Establish a postal service
Regulate Indian Affairs
DENIED
 Power to regulate trade
 Levy & collect taxes
 Enforce its own laws
What were the accomplishments of
the Articles of Confederation?
State Constitutions:
Experiments in Government
State constitutions
invaluable experience
Five Basic Reoccurring Elements:
1. Higher Law & Natural Rights – The purpose of
government is to protect life, liberty, and property.
2. Social Contract – people created the government
to protect their natural rights.
3. Popular Sovereignty – Authority to govern was
granted to the government by the people.
People > ultimate source of power.
State Constitutions:
Experiments in Government
Five Basic Reoccurring Elements:
4. Representation & Right to Vote – All state
constitutions instilled the importance of
representation of the people in their govt.
5. Legislative Supremacy – Most power in the
legislature. States incorporate some manner of
separation of powers.
Legislative
Executive
Judicial
The Model from Massachusetts
 Made extensive use of separation
of power & checks and balances.
 Created a strong Executive
Branch: (What was Adams thinking?)
John Adams
 Governor to be independent of the
legislature. (fixed salary)
 Governor to check the power of the
legislature. (veto & appointment
powers)
*Massachusetts State Constitution
expressed the classical republican
ideal of mixed government as a
means to prevent the abuse of power.
Problems in Foreign Affairs
British still maintained
forts along the
Canadian frontier.
The British refused to
withdraw until debts to
Britain & loyalists were
indemnified.
Spain controlled the mouth
of the Mississippi River.
 Spain also maintained forts
along its common frontier.

Shays’s Rebellion (1786-87)
Economic Distress in MA:
 Heavy taxes to pay of war
debt.
 Post-war depression in
Atlantic trade.
 Many faced foreclosure &
debtors prison.
 Western farmers pressed
for relief. Blocked by
Rebellion or Rural Protest?
eastern commercial
interests.
Shays’s Rebellion (1786-87)
Popular Protest:
 Farmers use same tactics
they used against Britain.
 Town meetings expanded
into county conventions,
which escalated into
crowd actions to prevent
courts from meeting.
 Gov. Bowdoin sends the
state militia, which
crushes the rebellion.
Shays’s Rebellion (1786-87)
The Massachusetts uprising dramatized the growing unrest in the
new nation, and symbolized to a growing number of conservatives
a republic in peril. Nationalists seized upon the specter of Shays’s
Rebellion to underscore the weakness of the Articles of
Confederation.
Annapolis Convention - 1786
 Hamilton organizes an
interstate meeting at
Washington’s Mt. Vernon to
discuss issues.
 Five states send delegates to
the Annapolis Convention to
discuss interstate trade.
 Outcome: Called for a larger
meeting the following year in
Philadelphia to revise the
Articles of Confederation.