The Revolution against a strong King left many Americans supporting a weak government. Many Americans wanted to keep governance as much a local concern as possible.
The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union had been constructed soon after independence was declared. The Articles were more a peace treaty establishing an alliance between the states that kept state sovereignty. It did not allow for the government to tax states. It required the unanimous agreement of all 13 state legislatures to enact an amendment. It did not create an executive position. It issued money the states then refused to back and thus become worthless. The states themselves were economically hard pressed to help finance and provide supplies to the army. British military errors contributed to a struggling American Army's success.
With no ability to raise revenues, our nation was unable to pay soldiers. Soldiers did not have blankets for winter and they were barely fed. Soldiers were threatening to undertake an uprising. Morris sided with the angry troops, which upset Washington. Washington went to the troops and calmed them and went to Congress to argue for their pay.
Congress did little, especially since it had difficulties even obtaining a quorum. Loans had to be repaid. Defaulting to European powers was not an option. Even Rhode Island realized the seriousness of keep financial credibility and the Rhode Island legislature joined in supported import taxes. This time, New York, which had a state goods tax, feared a national tax would harm its competitive position, and its legislature killed the import tax proposal.
An uprising occurred in Massachusetts in 1786. Destitute farmers were having their farms foreclosed due to their inability to pay taxes or repay loans. Farmers seized several country courthouses. There were fears this Shay's Rebellion would seek reunification with Great Britain.
The Continental Congress realized they had no ability to raise federal troops to fight this rebellion. Governor James Bowdoin of Massachusetts created a private militia organized through $20,000 in private contributions. Four rebels were killed and the rest, who likely were composed of several hundred men rather than the reported 15,000 men, dispersed.
For six days a week, over four months, in 1787, 55 delegates from the 13 states met in the Pennsylvania State House chambers in Philadelphia to debate and form a Constitution. It was a document forged from dissent and compromise based upon that era's political knowledge and limitations thereof, as there was little prior history to predict who it would work.
The Constitution was written with much uncertainty as to what its future was and with uncertainty among the delegates as to what the words meant. It was a document wrote with patriotic faith in attempts to form a "more perfect union" even as they admitted the document itself was not perfect. It was also a document they expected to change over time.
Debates arose over whether representation by population should be determined by the number of free inhabitants states had (a view favored by New England states where all were free) or total population including slaves (a view favored by Southern states.)
With the rule of King George III fresh in the minds of Delegates, the idea of an executive leader was distrusted. There was no executive under the Articles of Confederation. James Madison noted that the states that had failed to give their Governor (a few states had a President) veto power saw state legislatures passing measures that harmed minority rights by giving rights to the majority. Roger Sherman argued the executive should only administer the will of the legislature. George Washington's presence, and the respect given him as the presumptive ultimate executive, probably prevented the Delegates from dividing the executive's job into an office held by several people.
In the debates between whether a federal or national government should be established, John Dickinson was one of the first to suggest it be a compromise combination of both. Other efforts at compromise continued as Roger Sherman, Oliver Ellsworth, and William Samuel Johnson argued for the lower house being represented by population and the upper chamber having each state with equal representation.
The committee working on details revisited the previously mostly ignored topic of electing the President with Electors. There was dissatisfaction with the notion that Congress should elect the President and several felt a need to keep the President and Congress more separate. The state legislatures would decide how to select the Electors. There were fears that no one would receive a majority. Hugh Williamson suggested that a President could be elected with the support of at least a third vote of the Electors.
A bill of rights as not included. Many of the Delegates had tired and believed it was only their duty to create a framework for government and no more.
The Constitution became official. As the author notes, the revolutionary debate that began on Constitutional issues continues through the present. This book presents detailed descriptions of the people and times behind the creation of our Constitution. It provides insightful explanations on how the demands of the times and the debates of leaders led to forming a Constitution.
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slowreader
so many questions answered and unanswered
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 8, 2013
