Constitutional Prelude
FAILINGS OF THE CONFEDERACY
The loose framework of the Confederacy failed to effectively bind the 13 sovereign States into one political entity, prompting George Washington to write that the States were united only by a "rope of sand." Disputes over borders had arisen. Larger States, such as Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania, had passed tariff laws and restrictions on commerce with smaller States. Nine States had organized their own armies, and several had small navies. Coins and paper bills were issued, both, by the States and the federal government. Currency quickly depreciated and courts were clogged with suits for debt. Faced with a glut of market produce, farm-debtors lobbied for remedies against foreclosure, culminating in Shays rebellion of 1786.
Disputes between Maryland and Virginia over navigation on the Potomac River finally led to a conference of five states at Annapolis in September of 1786 to discuss agreement upon a possible uniform system of commerce. At the urging of Alexander Hamilton, the conference evolved into a call upon all the States to appoint representatives to a "general meeting, of the States," in a future convention" in order to "devise such further provisions as shall appear to them necessary to render the Constitution of the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union."
The Annapolis Commissioners concluded:
"That there are important defects in the system of the Federal Government is acknowledged by the Acts of all those States, which have concurred in the present Meeting; That the defects, upon a closer examination, may be found greater and more numerous, than even these acts imply, is at least so far probably, from the embarrassments which characterize the present State of our national affairs, foreign and domestic, as may reasonably be supposed to merit a deliberate and candid discussion, in some mode, which will unite the Sentiments and Councils of all the States. In the choice of the mode, your Commissioners are of opinion, that a Convention of Deputies from the different States, for the special and sole purpose of entering into this investigation, and digesting a plan for supplying such defects as may be discovered to exist, will be entitled to a preference from considerations, which will occur without being particularized." (Proceedings of the Commissioners to Remedy Defects of the Federal Government, Annapolis in the State of Maryland. September 14, 1786)
The convention of 55 delegates assembled in the Philadelphia State House in May of 1787.
