There is an anecdote about the last meeting of the Constitutional Convention in 1787 in which Benjamin Franklin, leaving Carpenters Hall in Philadelphia for the last time, is asked by someone in a crowd, "Dr. Franklin, what do we have? A monarchy or a Republic?" and Franklin famously replies, "A Republic, if you can keep it." American Revolution forges the idea of a nation founded on liberty. However, the founding fathers created the system of government championed as a new democratic republic almost a decade after the American Revolution. The New Nation of America was born out of the struggle of the Articles of Confederation and was nurtured and pruned by the country's first leaders.
The New Nation of America: Timeline
Below is an overview timeline of the events that shaped the new nation of the United States following the American Revolution.
March 1, 1781: Articles of Confederation Ratified.
September 3, 1783: The treaty of Paris ended the American Revolution and granted independence to the American colonies.
August 29, 1786: Shay's Rebellion occurs in Massachusetts, exposing many of the institutional weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.
September 11-14, 1786: The Annapolis Convention is held to attempt to fix the economic weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation but fails to do so; another convention is scheduled for the following year in Philadelphia.
May 25 - September 17, 1787: The Philadelphia Convention was held initially to amend the Articles of Confederation; the Convention began to organize a new form of government.
August 6, 1787: The First Draft of the U.S. Constitution is presented to the Convention.
September 17, 1787: The Constitution Convention Delegates signed the final draft of the U.S. Constitution to be sent to state ratification conventions.
May 28, 1788: The first Federalist Paper is published, authored by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, to persuade New York public opinion in favor of ratifying the U.S. Constitution.
June 21, 1788: New Hampshire is the 11th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution, making it the new government of the United States of America.
April 30, 1789: George Washington was inaugurated as the United States' first president.
July 1791 - 1794: The Whiskey Rebellion occurred in western Pennsylvania but was quelled by the new federal government.
March 4, 1797: John Adams wins the first contested presidential election.
October 31 - December 3, 1800: The election of 1800 was won by Thomas Jefferson and was the first presidential election in which different political parties and ideologies exchanged the executive power of government.
America: Birth of the New Nation
In 1786, several events exposed the inherent weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. In August, Shays' Rebellion broke out in Massachusetts, showing the federal government's ineptitude in intervening during a national crisis. In September, the Annapolis Convention was held to propose amendments to the Articles to help with the growing national financial crisis. But it was poorly attended, and Congress planned a new conference for the spring of 1787 in Philadelphia. The Constitutional Convention, also known as the Philadelphia Convention, was held from May to September 1787 to amend the Articles of Confederation. However, as the delegates arrived, a sentiment grew that perhaps the United States needed a new form of federal government.
The Articles of Confederation: The first form of national political organization in the United States in which sovereign states delegate power to a central government for specified purposes. The Articles lasted from March 1, 1781, to June 21, 788 - when the states ratified the U.S. Constitution.
Shays' Rebellion: An armed uprising in Massachusetts by former American Revolutionary War soldiers and poor farmers that attempted to overthrow the court system of Massachusetts by force. A state militia suppressed the rebellion, but the uprising itself showed the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation in responding to a national crisis.
The Annapolis Convention: Held in Annapolis, Maryland, from September 11-14, 1786, with delegates from several states to create amendments to the Articles of Confederation to help the financial issues facing the government and nation. The Convention was poorly attended, and the restrictive nature of the Articles of Confederation made it difficult to pass any amendments. The Convention ended with no resolutions other than to meet again in 1787 in Philadelphia. American Constitution
Fig. 1- Howard C. Christy's painting depicts the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787
The U.S. Constitution, from its creation, was seen as a controversial system. Praised as a solution to the nation's issues under the Articles of Confederation and condemned as a twisting of republican principles. Critics have charged that republican institutions worked only in small political units–the states. In contrast, advocates state that the Constitution extended republicanism by adding another layer of government elected by the people. In this hybrid political system, the new national government would exercise limited, delegated powers, and the existing state governments would retain authority over all other matters. During the summer of 1787, the delegates of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia debated and compromised about representation, federal and state powers, and the protection of state and individual rights.
The Great Compromise
This is the resolution proposed by Connecticut Delegates, specifically Roger Sherman, during the Constitutional Convention that combined the Virginia Plan by James Madison and the New Jersey Plan by William Paterson to establish the foundational structure of the Legislative Branch of the U.S. Constitution. Created a bicameral system in which the House of Representatives lower House will be elected at large, and representation was proportional to a state's population. The Upper House, the Senate, would be elected by state legislatures, and each state has proportional representation with two Senators.
The Three-fifths Compromise
Because the southern states would benefit most from allowing slave representation, the northern states and their delegates at the Constitutional Convention began a heated debate over appropriating population and wealth to the issue of representation.
Many northern delegates sympathized with the notion that wealth should play a role in apportioning representation but disagreed that counting enslaved people should be used as a measure and not be counted at all.
The Convention rejected the proposal for enslaved people to count equally in the House, but the debate continued. James Wilson of Pennsylvania proposed a compromise to allow the Convention to move on from the topic: Representation would be based on a free population plus three-fifths of the rest. The three-fifths figure was familiar to the delegates because an amendment had been proposed to Congress under the Articles of Confederation in 1783. Wilson's proposal for using three-fifths of "all other peoples" passed by nine states to two.
The Federalist Papers
Fig. 2- An advertisement for the Federalist Papers
Authored by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the pseudonym "Publius," the Federalist Papers consist of eighty-five essays expressing support for the new U.S. Constitution and a robust federal government system. Published for the public of New York as a means of persuading the state to ratify the Constitution, the Federalist Papers are now crucial documents into the reasoning, interpretation, and intent of the Constitution from the point of view of these three founding fathers.
The Bill of Rights
The weak national government under the Articles of Confederation created many problems. In 1787 these problems finally led to the Constitutional Convention to draft a new charter for the federal government, the U.S. Constitution. However, the Constitution's lack of a bill of rights became why many people opposed it. Many states refused to ratify the U.S Constitution until they were assured a bill of rights would be added. Even after three-fourths of the states ratified the Constitution in 1788. Some states threatened to call a second convention to weaken the government's powers. The struggle did not end until a bill of rights was finally added to the Constitution in 1790.
A New Nation: The United States of America
Though the ratification of the U.S. Constitution by New Hampshire in 1788 made it the new government of the United States, the last state to ratify the Constitution was Rhode Island in May 1790. By then, George Washington had already been inaugurated as the first president of the United States, and the new federal government began to take shape, led by Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams, and flex its new centralized powers.
The New Nation of America Leaders
The new nation is created in the summer of 1787 in Philadelphia. However, the role and function of this new government were tested, expanded, and pruned by the time of the presidential election of 1800. Under the leadership of George Washington and his cabinet and advisors and the Presidency of John Adams, the foundation of the new nation of America is set.
President George Washington (1789 - 1797)
George Washington was unanimously elected President of the United States in 1789 and 1792. He oversaw the establishment of many of the departments and systems of government through the U.S. Constitution. Washington appointed the nation's first court officials, judges, and justices. He also filled his cabinet with several influential, juxtaposed founding fathers, such as Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury, Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State, and John Adams as his vice president.
Fig. 3- An image that depicts the "Famous Whiskey Insurrection in Pennsylvania" in 1794
Whiskey Rebellion 1794
In December 1793, Congress began to accept and pass a financial program established by Alexander Hamilton. The first tax, an excise tax on whiskey, was because of the need for additional government revenues. The tax fell heavily on New England, where most of the nation's large distilleries were located, and on western farmers. Because transportation over the mountains was difficult and expensive, the frontier dwellers' most salable commodity was whiskey made from the corn they raised. Jugs of spirits were, after all, much more easily handled than wagonloads of bulky corn. Whiskey was also much in demand; the new nation's citizens were already notorious for their heavy consumption of alcohol.
News of the excise law started protests in frontier regions of Pennsylvania and the Carolinas. But matters did not come to a head until the summer of 1794, when western Pennsylvania farmers tried to stop a federal marshall from arresting some men charged with violating the law. The only person killed in the disturbances was a leader of the rioters, but President Washington was determined to prevent a reoccurrence of Shays' Rebellion. On August 7, he issued a proclamation calling the insurgents to disperse by September 1, and he summed more than 1,200 militia from Pennsylvania and neighboring states. The riots ended when the federal forces marched west in October and November. The troops met no resistance and arrested several rioters.
The chief importance of the Whiskey Rebellion was not military victory over the rebels but rather the message it forcefully conveyed to the American public. The national government, Washington demonstrated, would not allow violent organized resistance to its laws. Presidency of John Adams (1797-1801)
Fig. 4- Gilbert Stuart's portrait of President John Adams
In 1796, John Adams' political party was the Federalists' nomination for President, running in opposition to Thomas Jefferson of the Democratic-Republicans. These factions and political parties had formed during Washington's administration as conflicting political ideologies over the central government's power divided the new country's leaders. The Federalists moved to create policies to fortify a strong central government, while the Democratic-Republicans championed a system that delegated more power to the States. Adams wins the election by a very narrow margin.
John Adams' presidency did not accomplish many Federalist goals as the Democratic-Republicans used their power in the legislative branch to slow down the legal process. However, Adams' legal and European expertise came to use very quickly. France and England were at war, and the U.S. felt the repercussions caused by maritime trade issues and partisanship within the nation. Adams took swift action; he:
- pushed Congress to approve funding for three new warships,
- pass the Alien and Sedition Act, and
- raise funds for a provisional army.
Though he never declared war, Adams did send the new warships to defend the U.S. merchant fleet, and they were successful. France, who could not afford a two-front war, began negotiations with the United States to end naval hostilities and open trade, completing what is now known as the "Quasi-War."
The Alien and Sedition Acts:
Intended to suppress dissent, three of the four acts targeted immigrants:
The Naturalization Act: Lengthened the residency period required for citizenship from five to fourteen years and ordered all resident aliens to register with the federal government.
The Alien Enemies Act: Provided for the detention of enemy aliens during war.
The Alien Friends Act: Only to be in effect for two years, gave the President almost unlimited authority to deport any alien they deemed dangerous to national security.
The Sedition Act sought to control both citizens and aliens. It outlawed conspiracies to prevent the enforcement of federal laws and set the maximum punishment for such offenses at five years in prison and a fine. The act also tried to control speech. Writing, printing, or uttering false, scandalous, and malicious statements against the government of the United States, with the intent to defame or to bring contempt or disrepute, became a crime punishable by as much as two years in prison and a fine.
The New Nation of America: Summary
By the election of 1800, the systems and structures of the new government under the U.S. Constitution were established. Built by the Washington administration and tested by the Adams administration, the system of checks and balances and tests to the separation of powers began to align people to political ideologies.
The last test of the new nation would be the transfer of power from the federalist administration of Adams to the Democratic-Republicans of Thomas Jefferson in 1800. With this transition, the political system of the United States was fortified, and the Age of Jefferson would take hold of the nation for the next two decades.
The New Nation of America - Key takeaways
- The United States government as we know it today was created not during the American Revolution but almost twenty years later.
- The Articles of Confederation was the first form of national political organization in the United States in which sovereign states delegated power to a central government for specified purposes. The Articles lasted from March 1, 1781, to June 21, 788 - when the states ratified the U.S. Constitution.
- Events such as Shays' Rebellion exposed the weaknesses of the Articles, and the delegates of the Philadelphia Convention, also known as the Constitutional Convention, in 1787 began to create a new government.
- In drafting the U.S. Constitution, there were heated debates over representation, slavery, federal power, state rights, and individual rights.
- The Great Compromise, the 3/5 Compromise, and the Bill of Rights resolved many of the delegates' issues in creating a new form of government.
- The U.S. Constitution became the new government of the United States in 1788, and George Washington served as the first President.
- Under the presidencies of George Washington and John Adams, the new U.S. government guided by the U.S. Constitution was created, organized, and its powers exercised through events such as the Whisky Rebellion, the XYZ affair, the Quasi-War with France, and the Alien and Sedition Acts.
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