After several states faced economic troubles and citizen uprisings like Shays' Rebellion due to debt and taxation issues, delegates from states met at the Annapolis Convention in 1787 to discuss revising the Articles of Confederation. This led to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, where James Madison proposed a national government structure with two legislative chambers, an executive, and independent judiciary. William Paterson proposed keeping state authority and equal representation. A compromise was eventually reached to have proportional representation in the House but equal state representation in the Senate.

1. A SURVEY OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
Unit 1: Colonialism and Nationhood
Part 19: The Constitutional Convention (I)

2. REVENUE
PROBLEMS RETURN
• After the War of Independence,
moneylenders in Europe
stopped giving credit to United
States merchants.
• The United States suffered an
economic downturn and state
governments found themselves
facing a loss of tax revenue.
• In 1785, James Bowdoin,
the incoming Governor of
Massachusetts, made new
efforts to enforce the collection
of state taxes.

3. SHAYS’ REBELLION
• On August 29, 1786, a group of
protestors in Northampton,
Massachusetts, claimed they
were not receiving help with the
petitions for debt assistance that
they had presented in Boston.
• Among the protestors was
Daniel Shays, a farmhand who
had joined the Continental Army
and served at Freeman’s Farm
before he was injured in 1780.
He resigned without having been
paid by the army, and soon he
found himself facing legal action
for not having paid his debts.

4. SHAYS’ REBELLION
• On September 5, a similar
group of protestors appeared in
Worcester, Massachusetts. The
county militia was ordered to
apprehend the protestors, but
many militiamen refused to
obey because they shared the
protestors’ complaints.
• Other protests like these began
taking place in neighbouring
states. People could not pay
heavy state taxes because they
had no money, even though
many of them had helped win
American independence.

5. IMPROVING THE
CONFEDERATION
• On September 11, a dozen
delegates from several states met in
Annapolis, Maryland, to consider
ways of improving the Articles of
Confederation and Perpetual Union.
• The Articles united the states but
failed to provide much of the
infrastructure necessary for the
union to operate smoothly: an
executive government, court
systems, and the power to regulate
federal taxation in order to collect
and redistribute federal revenue.
• The meeting, known as the
Annapolis Convention, was led by
Alexander Hamilton of New York.

6. ENDING SHAYS’
REBELLION
• In November 1786, protest leaders
throughout Massachusetts were
arrested. Some arrests resulted in the
deaths of protestors in the east of the
state and turned protestors in the
west of the state decisively against
the Massachusetts Government.
• Protestors led by Daniel Shays took
control of western Massachusetts.
• In January 1787, the Massachusetts
Government formed a militia to
combat them. Meanwhile, Shays and
other leaders established local
governments whose own militias
planned to seize the Federal Armory
in Springfield. They failed, and the
rebellion was put down. However…

7. THE CONSTITUTIONAL
CONVENTION
On May 14, 1787, delegates from all
of the states returned to Philadelphia
to discuss revising the Articles of
Confederation in order to prevent
incidents like Shays’ Rebellion. The
result of the talks led by James
Madison, a delegate from Virginia,
was the United States Constitution.

8. JAMES MADISON’S VIRGINIA PLAN
• Bicameral legislature, proportional to state
populations in both houses.
• Upper house elected by lower house.
• Executive elected by legislature.
• Separate and independent judiciary.

9. WILLIAM PATERSON’S NEW JERSEY PLAN
• Single-chamber legislature wherein each state
has one vote regardless of population size.
• Executive elected by legislature.
• National power to tax.
• Separate and independent judiciary.

10. BROKERING A COMPROMISE
• Bicameral legislature.
• Lower house proportional to state populations,
with exclusive power to originate legislation.
• Upper house with equal votes amongst states
regardless of population size.

11. A SURVEY OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
Unit 1: Colonialism and Nationhood
Part 19: The Constitutional Convention (I)