Under The Articles Of Confederation

Under the Articles of Confederation there were several major events, which led to Constitutional Convention, where 55 delegates had to meet in order to create our current Constitution. One of those major events was on the October of 1781 where the Continental Army forced General Cornwallis into surrender at Yorktown, ending the American Revolutionary War (which doesn’t include the two years of battle afterwards at sea). This was a major achievement of the Articles, however this was the point where everything changed as colonist were no longer at war. The system had to be changed in order to be adapted to ordinary life, however this did not happen. Soldiers were returning home after fighting only to be launched into debt. Afterwards, there was

a regional meeting at Annapolis, Maryland on the September of 1786. With debt due to various reasons, one of which being lack of trade, the meeting was meant to deal with those trading issues. However, out of the 13 states there were only 5 states represented at the meeting. This caused the meeting to send a proposal saying asking for all of the states to send representatives to a convention where they would talk. This meeting was a point in time in the movement toward a changing the insufficient Articles of Confederation. In addition to winning the American Revolutionary War and the meeting at Annapolis, there was Shays’ Rebellion in 1786. Farmers in Massachusetts who all grew the same crops, had their prices lowered due to supply and demand. These farmers became in debt, losing their homes and farms. With Daniel Shays leading a few hundred farmers, they formed a rebellion and tried to capture the arsenal at Springfield, but were ultimately defeated. However, their efforts were not in vain as people began to realize how the dire the situation was. The national government had no money, hence the lack of troops and army, which would have put down the rebels. The Articles of Confederation were America’s first attempt at a constitution that had its ups and downs, but these events are defiantly some of the down points.