Consequences of the
Revolution and Shays
Rebellion
Independence… What Next?
What Next?
 Americans had been imbued with the ideology of the
revolution now how to quell these passions for liberty
before eroding society into anarchy
 What about Tories (Loyalists) after the war?
 What would happen to slaves who fought for the
country?
What Next?
 What would be the place of women at the table of
democracy?
 What to do about the Native Americans?
Writing State Constitutions
 The experiment in Republicanism
 Civic Virtue
 “Equality” in the face of inequality- Slavery
 General model of strong legislatures
Economic Problems
 States deeply in debt
 Inefficiency of the national government in dealing with
international trade
 Problems with lack of specie and inflated Continental
Script
 National embarrassments caused by the British and the
Spanish
Causes of Shays’ Rebellion
 1st The lack of a strong national government that garners
the respect of the people
 2nd The issue of large amounts of worthless paper
money issued by both states and the national
governments
 3rd Poverty of the people, lack of manufacturing,
downfall of international trade, large public and private
debt
State Economies
 States issued large amounts of paper currency because of
the lack of specie after the war.
 Some forced to live by exchange of goods
 Required state taxes to be paid in hard currency
 Failure to pay resulted in foreclosure and public auction
Business & Commerce
 Manufacturing was ruined
 Mining halted
 Fisheries abandoned
 The Nation, State, and people deeply in debt
Creditors and Debtors
 Creditors sued debtors for nonpayment and debtors in
turn sued their debtors
 No property was exempt from seizure as the debtor
could only look on as his property was sold
Newburgh Conspiracy
 March 1783, General Horatio Gates and five hundred
officers under Washington’s command met at Newburgh
to discuss resigning their commissions and redressing
grievances to the Confederation Congress.
 Washington met with the officers and gave one of his
greatest speeches
 The conspirators, humbled by Washington’s reproach,
voted against a plan that would have ended the
Confederation government
Citizen Washington
 Washington resigned his commission from the
Continental Army and assumed the posture of a retired
gentleman planter
 His retirement was short lived
Massachusetts’ Troubles
 In order to cover state debts, Massachusetts imposed
high taxes on its citizens
 Cash poor farmers could not afford to pay such
exorbitant taxes and subsequently lost their property
 In an effort to stop the foreclosure and loss of property
the farmers resorted to previously successful methods of
resistance
Who Were These Men?
 Some were officers in the Continental Army, served
under Gen. Gates at Saratoga and Washington at Valley
Forge
 Most of the “rebels” served in the Continental Army
during the revolution
 Several men had served during the Seven Years War as
well as the American Revolution
Their Grievances
 Many of their debts had been caused by their absences
from home in service to the country
 Mass. owed money to the men for their service and paid
them in part with state certificates which the men sold to
speculators
 The state then taxed the soldiers the same as the rest of
the population
 Rebels saw it as a protest against an intolerable
government
Daniel Shays
 Served as a Captain in the Continental Army and fought
at Lexington, Bunker Hill, Ticonderoga, and Saratoga
 He was presented with “an elegant sword” from the
Marquee de Lafayette
 He was poor with debt and seems to have been drawn
into the rebellion which bears his name
The Shaysites
 Numbered from several hundred men to fifteen thousand
 Turned to vigilante action and banned together to close
courthouses throughout western Mass.
 The Shaysites tried to take an arsenal in Springfield and
scared to state legislature in Boston
 Wealthy landowners in Mass pressed the state
government to act
Ending the Rebellion
 Governor James Bowdoin raised $20,000 from private
donors to pay for an army to stop the rebellion
 General Benjamin Lincoln led a force of 4,4oo to
Springfield
 Lincoln’s men fired on the rebels killing 5 and wounding
several others
 Shays and the rest of the rebels fled to other counties and
states
Effects of Shays’ Rebellion
 The Annapolis Convention
 Called by the Continental Congress, it lacked enough
delegates to form a quorum
 Only twelve delegates from five states showed up in
Maryland
 Prominent delegates were John Dickinson, Alexander
Hamilton, James Madison, and Edmund Randolph
 These men, convinced of the need for a stronger central
government, called for a meeting of delegates in
Philadelphia
A Convention of
Compromises
A Gathering of Demigods
 The delegates shared much in common
 They were all landowning white men of wealth and
comfort
 Almost all were very well educated for the time
 Their professions ranged from landowner, slaveholder and
lawyer to merchant. As well as doctor and clergyman
 Most all had served in their state legislatures or the
Continental or Confederation Congress
 The average age was relatively young- early 40’s
The Secrecy Rule
 Put in place to ensure foreign diplomats and observers
would not be privy to the frank discussions of the
nations economic and social problems
 Did not want to further erode public morale and trust for
the Confederation government
 Most importantly to allow delegates to compromise and
save face with their home states
The First Salvo
 Edmund Randolph of the Virginia delegation made the
first recommendation as to correct and enlarge the
Articles of Confederation
 It became known as the Virginia Plan
 Developed by James Madison
 15 resolutions that would fundamentally change the
government
 It increased and concentrated the powers of the new
Congress
Virginia’s Plan
 Called for a three branch government
 Bicameral Congress
 One house popularly elected by voters
 Upper house chosen by the lower house from slates of
nominees given by State Legislatures
 Both Houses would have membership based on
proportional representation
 The plan was preferred by larger, more populous states
The New Jersey Plan
 Presented by William Patterson of New Jersey
 The plan kept the basic structure of the Confederation
 Unicameral Congress with one vote per state
 Created an executive board, elected by the legislature but
removable by a majority of state governors
 National legislature could impose duties on imports
protecting smaller states from exploitation by larger ones
 Tax the states based on population and be able to enforce
it
Connecticut Compromise
 Proposed by William Paterson of New Jersey and Roger
Sherman of Connecticut
 Representation in the lower house based on population

Representation in the upper house/Senate based each
state would have one vote
 MA, CT, PA, VA, NC, SC, GA voted in favor
 NJ, DE, and NY voted against
 Maryland delegation was split
Sectional Conflict
 The issue of proportional representation was followed by
a debate on the status of slaves and their value in
calculating representation
 John Rutledge-SC, proposed states ought to have weight
in the government proportional to their wealth
 James Wilson-PA and Charles Pinckney-SC proposed
the three-fifths compromise
 Number chosen as a rough approximation of the wealth
an individual slave contributed to the economy of the
state
Commerce Compromise
 Gouverneur Morris and other northern delegates proposed a
change to Article VII section 4 concerning non-taxation of
exports
 Southern delegates proposed an alternative change to include
a prohibition on limiting the slave trade
 Northern states wanted to impose a tariff to protect against
foreign imports
 Southern states feared this measure would hurt the trade of
agricultural products
 The compromise to Article VII was to allow tariffs on imports
to the US and not exports
Slave Trade Compromise
 An eleven person committee made up of delegates from
each state present drew up a report to allow importation
“of such persons as the several States… shall think
proper to admit” should not be prohibited by Congress
prior to 1800. It permitted “such persons” to be taxed at
the same rate as all other imports
 Charles Pinckney-SC, moved for the date to be moved to
1808 to give his state more time to trade in Africans
Debate Over Ratification
 Federalists were in favor of a strong central government
and the Constitution as written
 Thought a Bill of Rights to be unnecessary as the
Constitution would protect individual liberties as written
 Anti-Federalists were in favor of a weaker central
government and a strong legislature
 Wanted individual rights to be expressly enumerated in a
Bill of Rights
Enough votes were obtained for ratification based on the
promise of an addition of a Bill of Rights