The Aftermath
The Revolutionary War did not end with the Battle of Yorktown. The war did not stop until about a year later. King George III wanted to keep fighting, but the British Parliament wanted to make peace. They decided to hold peace talks with the Americans in Paris,which began in April 1782. The Americans at the peace talks were John Jay, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Laurens, and William Temple Franklin. The result was the Treaty of Paris - a document which gave the United States its independence. The land west of the Appalachian Mountains and east of the Mississippi River became part of the United States.
There was a big wilderness between Pittsburgh and the Mississippi River. George Rogers Clark had defeated the British and their French and Native American allies in several battles. At the peace talks, Clark's victories gave the Americans some claim to the wilderness that was to become the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and most of Minnesota. The British agreed to a boundary line running through the Great Lakes. Very little attention was paid to the rights of the Native Americans. For example, the Iroquois nation fought on the British side, so a lot of their land was lost when the Americans won.
In 1781, Maryland became the last state to adopt the Articles of Confederation, which had been approved by the Continental Congress in 1777. As a result, our country's first central government ws set up. The Articles of Confederation had many flaws, though. For example, each state made its own laws, collected its own taxes, printed its own money, and set its own rules about customs and trade. This made many people feel as if they were citizens of that state, not the U.S. The Congress could not do much about it. Also, each state had one vote in Congress, which gave small states just as much power as large states. Nine votes were required to pass a law, so five small states could stop a law from being passed. Even if the law was passed, any state that disagreed with the law could ignore it. Since there were no federal courts, the federal law could not be enforced. The worst flaw was that all 13 states were required to approve any changes to the Articles before the changes were official. This was not likely to happen.
One of the most important laws passed under the Articles of Confederation was the Northwest Ordinance, which was passed in 1787. This law made a way for new territories west of the original 13 colonies to become states.
In 1786, a farmer from Massachusetts named Daniel Shays organized a group of farmers to protest against the courts of Massachusetts because they had been jailing farmers and taking land away from farmers.More than 1,000 farmers fought against the local militia. Eight men were killed before Shays's Rebellion ended. Afterward, Patrick Henry said, "Our body politic is dangerously sick." Many leaders agreed with him.
In 1786, James Madison suggested a meeting to discuss problems between the states of Virginia and Maryland. Alexander Hamilton invited delegates from all 13 states meet in what we now know as the Constitutional Convention. James Madison prepared a plan of government and gathered support for it. The Virginia Plan, as it came to be known, proposed that the central government should have three branches. A Legislative branch, called the Congress, would make laws for the colony and raise money for the central government. The President, who would carry our the Congress's laws, would head the executive branch. The Judicial Branch would decide the meaning of laws. It would be headed by the Supreme Court.
There was much debate over this plan. Part of the plan said that the Congress's representatives would be based on population. This favored the large states but not the small ones. The small states wanted the number of representatives from each state to be the same. Roger Sherman came up with a plan known as the Great Compromise. Congress would have 2 separate houses: the House of Representataives, in which the number of representatives were based on population, and the Senate, in which each state had 2 representatives. It was also decided that the people would vote for members of an Electoral College. The Electoral College would then vote for President. Many delegates wondered if slaves should count in a state's population. The northern states wanted to end slavery, but the southern states wanted it to continue. A compromise was reached. Every 5 slaves would be counted as 3. The new United States Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787. Nine states were needed to approve it before it was official, though. Each state had a convention to decide whether or not to approve of the Constitution. Those against approval were worried that the Constitution did not contain a Bill of Rights. Those in favor of approval promised to later add a Bill of Rights as amendments. That is why the first ten amendments are called the Bill of Rights. By the end of 1788, eleven states had approved the Constitution.
With the Constitution approved, the first President could be elected. Every single member of the Electoral College voted for George Washington. On April 30, 1789, Washington took the President's oath of office in New York City. He swore to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."