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The struggle with England had done much to change colonial
attitudes. Local assemblies had rejected the Albany Plan of Union
in 1754, refusing to surrender even the smallest part of their
autonomy to any other body, even one they themselves had elected.
But in the course of the Revolution, mutual aid had proved
effective, and the fear of relinquishing individual authority had
lessened to a large degree.
John Dickinson produced the "Articles of Confederation and
Perpetual Union" in 1776. The Continental Congress adopted them
in November 1777, and they went into effect in 1781, having been
ratified by all the states. The governmental framework
established by the Articles had many weaknesses. The national
government lacked the authority to set up tariffs when necessary,
to regulate commerce and to levy taxes. It lacked sole control of
international relations: a number of states had begun their own
negotiations with foreign countries. Nine states had organized
their own armies, and several had their own navies. There was a
curious hodgepodge of coins and a bewildering variety of state
and national paper bills, all fast depreciating in value.
Economic difficulties after the war prompted calls for change.
The end of the war had a severe effect on merchants who supplied
the armies of both sides and who had lost the advantages deriving
from participation in the British mercantile system. The states
gave preference to American goods in their tariff policies, but
these tariffs were inconsistent, leading to the demand for a
stronger central government to implement a uniform policy.
Farmers probably suffered the most from economic difficulties
following the Revolution. The supply of farm produce exceeded
demand, and unrest centered chiefly among farmer-debtors who
wanted strong remedies to avoid foreclosure on their property and
imprisonment for debt. Courts were clogged with suits for debt.
All through the summer of 1786, popular conventions and informal
gatherings in several states demanded reform in the state
administrations.
In the autumn of 1786, mobs of farmers in Massachusetts under the
leadership of a former army captain, Daniel Shays, began forcibly
to prevent the county courts from sitting and passing further
judgments for debt, pending the next state election. In January
1787 a ragtag army of 1,200 farmers moved toward the federal
arsenal at Springfield. The rebels, armed chiefly with staves and
pitchforks, were repulsed by a small state militia force; General
Benjamin Lincoln then arrived with reinforcements from Boston and
routed the remaining Shaysites, whose leader escaped to Vermont.
The government captured 14 rebels and sentenced them to death,
but ultimately pardoned some and let the others off with short
prison terms. After the defeat of the rebellion, a newly elected
legislature, whose majority sympathized with the rebels, met some
of their demands for debt relief.
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