Following the American Revolution and the Peace of Paris, the United States faced new challenges. The new nation struggled to achieve control of its own territory, to define the nature of its trade relationships with Europe, and to overcome crippling economic depression and the specter of inflation. If the Articles had proved adequate in achieving victory in the war, they proved less so in addressing these new concerns.
Both Great Britain and Spain stood in the way of the United States winning control of its borders. Although the British kept their promise to withdraw their troops from American soil promptly, they refused to abandon seven military posts beyond the periphery of the original thirteen states. Pressing against America’s exposed frontier like hot coals, these posts seared national pride. The inability to eject the British seemed a national disgrace. In 1784, moreover, the Spaniards had closed the lower Mississippi River to American commerce. This harmed settlers beyond the Appalachians who depended on the Mississippi and its network of tributaries to get their corn, tobacco, and other products to eastern and European markets. Many reasoned that a stronger central government might have dealt with Britain and Spain more forcefully and effectively.
Another key problem concerned trade. After hostilities had ended, British merchants, eager to regain markets closed to them during the Revolution, poured low-priced manufactured goods of all kinds into the United States. Americans, long deprived of British products, rushed to take advantage of the bargains. Soon imports of British goods were approaching the levels of the early 1770s, while exports to the empire reached no more than half their earlier volume.
The influx of British goods aggravated the situation just when the economy was suffering a dislocation as a result of the ending of the war. From 1784 to 1786 the country went through a period of bad times. The inability of Congress to find money to pay the nation’s debts undermined public confidence. Veterans who had still not been paid, and private individuals and foreign governments that had lent the government money during the Revolution, were clamoring for their due. In some regions crop failures compounded the difficulties.
An obvious way of dealing with these problems would have been to place tariffs on British goods in order to limit British imports, but the Confederation lacked the authority to do this. When individual states erected tariff barriers, British merchants easily got around them by bringing their goods in through states that did not. That the central government lacked the power to control commerce disturbed merchants, other businessmen, and the ever-increasing number of national-minded citizens in every walk of life.
Thus a movement developed to give the Confederation the power to tax imports, and in 1781 Congress sought authority to levy a 5 percent tariff duty. This would enable Congress to pay off some of its obligations and also put pressure on the British to relax their restrictions on American trade with the West Indies. Every state but Rhode Island agreed, but the measure required the unanimous consent of the states and therefore failed.
Defeat of the tariff pointed to the need for revising the Articles of Confederation, for here was a case where a large percentage of the states were ready to increase the power of the national government yet were unable to do so. Although many individuals in every region were worried about creating a centralized monster that might gobble up the sovereignty of the states, the practical needs of the times convinced many others that this risk must be taken.
World History
