William_T._Bianco,_David_T._Canon]_American_Polit

34 Chapter 2Chapter 2 || The Constitution and the FoundingThe Constitution and the Founding

Congress also lacked any real authority over the states. For example, Congress

could suggest the amount of money each state owed to support the Revolutionary

army but could not enforce payment. This meant that General George Washington’s

troops were in dire straits, lacking basic food and clothing—to say nothing about

the arms and munitions they needed to defeat the British. At first, Congress tried to

compel the states to support their own troops, but this appeal failed. Desperate for

funds, Congress tried in 1781 to give itself the power to raise taxes, but the measure

was vetoed by Rhode Island, which represented less than 2 percent of the nation’s

population! If France had not come to the aid of the American army with much-

needed funds and troops, the weakness of the national government could have

led to defeat.^8

After the Revolutionary War ended with the Treaty of Paris in September 1783,

the inability to raise revenue through taxes continued to plague Congress. The

new government owed millions of dollars in war debts to foreign governments and

domestic creditors. Because it had no way to make the states pay their share, Congress

proposed an amendment to the Articles that would allow the national government

to collect import duties to put toward paying off the debt. However, New York,

the busiest seaport in the nation, did not want to share its revenue and vetoed the

amendment. Foreign trade also suffered because of the weak national government.

If a foreign government negotiated a trade arrangement with Congress, it could be

vetoed or amended by a state government, so a foreign country wanting to conduct

business with the United States might have to negotiate separate agreements with

Congress and each state legislature. Even trade among the states was complicated

and inefficient: each state could make its own currency, exchange rates varied, and

1775–1783 Revolutionary War

September

First

Continental

Congress

February 6

Treaty of

Alliance

with France

January

First

publication

of Thomas

Paine’s

Common

Sense

July

Congress

adopts the

Declaration of

Independence

May

Second

Continental

Congress

November 15

Articles of

Confederation

adopted by

Congress, sent

to the states

for ratification

March 1

Articles of

Confederation

are ratified by

the requisite

number

of states

October 19

Cornwallis

surrenders

the British

army at

Yorktown

September 3

Treaty of Paris signed,

ending the Revolutionary War

August 1786 –

January 1787

Shays’s Rebellion

September 14

Annapolis

delegates

decide that

Articles need

to be fixed

June 21

Constitution

ratified when

New Hampshire

is the ninth

state to ratify

September 17

Constitution

signed

October 27

Federalist Papers

begin appearing

in New York

newspapers

May 25

Constitutional

Convention

begins in

Philadelphia

March 4

Constitution

takes eect

1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1782 1783 1784 1785 1786 1787 1788 1789

1781–1789 Articles of Confederation period

FIGURE

2.1

Constitutional

Time Line

The sequence of important events

leading to independence and

the writing and ratification of the

Constitution.

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