This photo shows the Assembly Room in Independence Hall, where the sessions of the Constitutional Convention took place.
Background
Although the thirteen American colonies gained independence from Britain when the Revolutionary War in America formally ended in 1783, the country that had been formed in 1781 under the Articles of Confederation was struggling by war’s end with political and financial instability. The federal government, such as it existed under the Articles, was extremely weak and had no executive branch or legal system. To make matters worse, the states alone possessed the right to maintain a standing army, tax their citizens, and regulate interstate commerce.
The weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation were apparent to some national figures as soon as the agreement became binding in 1781; however, nothing was done to strengthen the Articles until a rebellion broke out in western Massachusetts during the summer of 1786. During this uprising, which became known as Shays’ Rebel- lion, hundreds of Massachusetts farmers, led by Captain Daniel Shays, took up arms against the Massachusetts government to protest burdensome tax laws and court fees that were costing small property owners their livelihoods and, in some cases, their freedom. Shays’ Rebellion sent political shockwaves rippling through the United States and is generally cited as the triggering event that helped national leaders decide that it was finally time to revise the Articles of Confederation.
In September 1786, five of the thirteen states chose to send representatives to a convention in Annapolis, Maryland, where it was recommended that Congress ask all thirteen states to choose del- egates for another convention that would take place in Philadelphia the following May. The subject of this convention was to be the strengthening of the Articles of Confederation.
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PHOTO: © OCEAN/CORBIS
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