By 1785 it was beginning to become apparent that the government of the Articles of Confederation was making it difficult to resolve issues among the states. In order to deal with waterways that formed state boundaries, including the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay, a conference was called at Mount Vernon, where James Madison, George Mason, and others discussed commercial issues. An outcome of the meeting hosted by Washington was that the Virginia legislature invited all the states to attend a meeting in Annapolis in 1786.
The Annapolis convention met even as the Confederation Congress was attempting to reorganize itself. For various reasons, including difficulty of long-distance transportation, the Annapolis convention was only lightly attended. The convention, however, accepted a proposal drafted by Alexander Hamilton to request all the states to meet in a convention in Philadelphia in May 1787, "to render the Constitution of the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union." Congress finally endorsed the plan in February 1787 and called for a convention "for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation."
Shays's Rebellion. In August of 1786 a violent protest erupted in Massachusetts over economic hardships that had resulted in foreclosures of homes and farms. Leader of the rebellion was Daniel Shays, a farmer who had been a captain during the Revolutionary War. Massachusetts farmers were frustrated because they were unable to pay their debts due to depressed crop prices, and mortgages were being foreclosed. Shays marched his insurgents to Springfield, threatening the federal arsenal there. State militia backed by federal forces eventually drove off the Shaysites, but the uprising underscored the weaknesses of the Confederation government and the inadequacy of the American interstate commercial structure.
Americans from George Washington to Abigail Adams were horrified by the prospect of a new rebellion. Washington declared it "liberty gone mad," and the situation reminded many that mob rule was sometimes seen as a natural outgrowth of too much democracy. Thomas Jefferson was less bothered by the uprising, believing that a little violence was necessary for the good health of liberty, but it was obvious that the federal government could not respond to the needs of the people. In the end, Shays's rebellion furthered the cause of those who wanted a radical revision of the Articles of Confederation.
World History
