Ap Us History Dbq Research Paper

Words: 1800
Pages: 8

The late 1790s through the early 1800s were a trying time for the American populace. Not more than thirty years prior, a great revolution was fought. America had been victorious against the British Crown, and its Parliament. The elated feelings of victory soon subsided, and where replaced with the urgent need to revise and if necessary replace the existing foundation of this nation. The Articles of the Confederation. The clouds of failure were looming to envelop the new country. The answer to this was the Constitution. This document would set an established set of rules on how the government would be setup and run. A convention was formed to draft this constitution. In September of 1787 it was adopted without a Bill of Rights attached. With it came the election of the nation’s first president; George Washington. His choice in cabinet members would help shape how that blueprint was interpreted through the ratification process. Nine states would need to approve the Constitution for it to become law. George Washington stated, “The power under the Constitution would always be in the people” (Washington). During the ratification process not, everyone believed that sentiment. Two competing ideas arose that would define how the fledgling America would operate. …show more content…
“State and Federal Governments owed about 77.1 million dollars to creditors” (TreasuryDirect). This economic black hole was the real reason for the bleak outlook on the future of America. America had this crushing debt, yet there was no way to pay it. The States all had worthless money that they minted themselves. Gold and other precious metals were in short supply. These factors made it impossible to pay off any debt. It also meant America would not be able to gain any new financing to service the debt. This caused widespread inflation. America was on the brink of imploding on itself. Something had to be