Who Attended the Constitutional Convention?

Prior to the United States Constitution, the Articles of Confederation were the supreme law in the land. However, these Articles had a number of flaws. The founding fathers were worried that the country would not survive under the Articles. The original purpose of the Convention was to revise these Articles. However, it became clear that the Articles just had to be rewritten altogether.

Flaws of the Articles of Confederation

There were various flaws of the Articles that needed to be addressed. First, according to the Articles of Confederation, states were allowed to print their own currency. However, this meant that the federal currency was rendered almost useless. Further, each state had the same amount of representatives in the Congress, regardless of population.

Under the Articles, the federal government wasn’t allowed to collect taxes. However, this meant that the government didn’t have the resources to provide services for its citizens.

The government also didn’t have the power to raise an army. This left the United States vulnerable for attack from other countries, including Great Britain.

There were significant commerce problems as well. The federal government didn’t have the power to regulate trade. Additionally, states were allowed to place tariffs on products that were from other states. This hurt the country’s economy as a whole. Other countries were placing large tariffs on products from the United States as well, and the federal government didn’t have the power to respond by placing tariffs on products from those countries. It became clear that the Articles had to be rewritten.

The Annapolis Convention

The Virginia Legislature invited all the states to send representatives to Annapolis, Maryland on January 21, 1786. The purpose of this convention was to discuss the state of the government, and the problems with the Articles. James Madison was the initial individual to suggest that this meeting occur.

Only a handful of states actually attended this convention. The states that did attend decided to support a motion that all the states should meet in Philadelphia. The motion stated that all states should meet in Philadelphia on May 14, 1787 to discuss how to improve the Articles of Confederation. The only state to boycott this second convention was Rhode Island, who believed that the convention would result in disadvantages for the small state.