Why did Delegates from 12 States Meet in Philadelphia in 1787

In 1763 the “Peace of Paris” conference ended the expensive war fought between Britain and France. Britain was victorious in the war and many Americans fought for Britain, the colonists’ were proud to be part of the British Empire. The colonies across America were very divided and almost separate countries, but the general sentiment was pride at being a part of the British Empire. The war with France, although establishing Britain as the dominant force in these new territories, removing the French from North America, was a very expensive ordeal and left Britain in debt. The British felt that, as the war was protecting the American colonies, the colonists’ should pay towards it through taxes save face.

The first direct taxes that the British enforced on the colonists’ was the Stamp Act in March 1765 this and other attempts to tighten political and economic control led to calls of “taxation without representation” from the colonists’. As a result of the anger against the Stamp Act in October of the same year representatives from nine colonies met up in New York and drew up a “Declaration of Rights and Grievances”. Within this document they denounced the Stamp Act as having a “manifest tendency to subvert the rights and liberties of the colonies”. This shocked the British; the amount of tax they were asking for was far less than what actual British citizens were paying. Due to the diverse make-up of the American colonies and the differences in the cultures the British thought it unlikely that they would be able to work together in a “nationalistic” reaction to taxation policies. The colonists’ saw it unfair that they should have to pay taxes without any say in the way things were run.

In March 1766 the British acknowledged this and repealed the Stamp Act but issued a “Declaratory Act” underlining the superiority of the Crown. It stated, “Colonies and plantations in America …are …subordinate unto, and dependent upon the imperial crown and parliament of Great Britain.” This was to save face more than anything, the colonists’ had got what they wanted and the British didn’t want to appear weak.

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However the colonists’ were once again angered by the imperial rule as in march 1767 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Charles Townshend, introduced a series of duties on colonial imports as a way of gaining revenue from the empire. This stirs up the colonists’ feelings of unjust “taxation without representation” and helps to unite them.

Conflicts between guards in the customs house in Boston and aggressive crowds resulted in five deaths as the guards shot into the crowds. The colonists labelled this as the “Boston Massacre” and used it as propaganda against the imperial rule. On the same day as the so-called “Massacre” the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord North, removed the duties Townshend had placed on colonial imports except for the one on tea. This was in order to demonstrate the “supremacy of Parliament” once again an example of the British backing down to the colonists’ complaints, and leaving the duties on tea was another attempt to save face.

In December 1773 colonists’ decided that the import tax on tea was unconstitutional and in Boston a group of men disguised as Indians, boarded the tea ships and threw their cargoes into the harbour. This “Boston Tea Party” rallied support across America and symbolised the feelings of a large proportion of the people, uniting them. This is supported by the fact that in 1774 representatives from 12 colonies met in Philadelphia at the “Continental Congress” and denied that they were subject to the authority of British Parliament, though not denying the supremacy of the Crown. This shows that the colonies were entering a state of rebellion, and in February 1775 Massachusetts was declared to be in a state of rebellion by Paris.

The first actual hostilities in what becomes the American War of Independence take place in Lexingham, near Boston in April 1775. This is followed by the “Second Continental Congress” meet in Philadelphia, at first denying the intention of a complete break with Britain. But then on July 4th 1776 the Declaration of independence was issued, attacking the present King of Great Britain, this was propaganda to convince the colonists that they were doing the right thing. It also helped ensure that a similar kind of rule would not emerge following independence.

The American colonists knew that to achieve independence all the separate colonies would have to work together, however the colonies enjoyed their individuality and were strongly against the notion of becoming one large country. They wanted to be governed within their own states, making their own laws, as apposed to falling back into a despotism style leadership. The “Articles of Confederation” drawn together in November 1777, under the articles, individual states retained sovereignty, but delegated some power to congress. Each state got an equal say regardless of its population or wealth, the only real decisions the congress could make were concerned with the National Defence. It took until 1781 for all states to approve the Articles.

In 1783 the United States won its independence from Britain by Treaty of Versailles.

By 1786 it was clear that the United States was not working under the Articles of Confederation, the central Government was simply too weak to solve even small inter-state problems. It was feared that with a weak central government the states would be picked off one by one by the European powers in the area and their fight ffor independence would have been in vain. The diversity of laws and taxes between states made trade difficult and was not economically sound. So in September 1786, The Annapolis Convention was held with five states being represented, calling for a general convention to be held to address the current problems, American businesses were failing because of competition from foreign imports and debt ridden states were forced to heavily tax hard pressed farmers resulting in revolts. In the Annapolis convention Hamilton (a young lawyer who called for and wrote the resulting notes from the convention) does not discuss any of the specific problems with the weaknesses in the central government so as not to deter any States from attending the Philadelphia Convention. He emphasizes the importance of the Philadelphia Convention by repeating what he says 3 times

On May 14 1787 the Philadelphia convention opened, with the purpose to revise the Articles of Confederation in order to strengthen the central government.

Created by Richard Price