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had not received aid from the French Treasury and the powerful
French navy.
After 1778 the fighting shifted largely to the South. In 1781, 8,000
British troops under Lord Cornwallis were surrounded at Yorktown,
Virginia, by a French fleet and a combined French-American army
under George Washington’s command. Cornwallis surrendered, and
soon afterward the British government asked for peace. The Treaty of
Paris, signed in September 1783, recognized the independence of the
United States and granted the new nation all the territory north of
Florida, south of Canada and east of the Mississippi River.
The colonies were now free but they had not yet forged a united
nation. The first national constitution, the Articles of Confederation
and Perpetual Union, had been adopted by the Continental Congress
in 1777, but was not ratified by the states until 1781. Moreover, under
the Articles, the crucial powers of regulating commerce and levying
taxes – indeed the power to make laws – remained with the states. In
fact, the Articles of Confederation declared that “each State retains its
sovereignty.” The federal government could declare war and peace,
make foreign treaties and coin and borrow money – but only with the
consent of two – thirds of the states. And the Articles provided no
method of enforcement.
By 1787 it was widely believed that the superficial unity imposed
by the Articles of Confederation would disintegrate. The Congress
had difficulty negotiating international commerce because any one
state could render a treaty ineffectual. The states themselves were
constantly involved in commercial or territorial disputes. Small
farmers throughout the country, in debt and pressed for payment by
merchants petitioned state legislatures for paper money. When the
Massachusetts legislature refused, debt-ridden farmers organized a
revolt in 1786-87 known as Shay’s Rebellion.
In May 1787, 55 of the most highly regarded American Leaders -
including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and James
Madison – opened a Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, that had been called specifically for revising the
Articles of Confederation. But the delegates boldly decided to throw
the Articles out and instead began drafting a new constitution. The
meeting, which went on for four long months and is sometimes called
“the second American revolution,” resulted in the Constitution of the
United States. This Constitution established not merely a league of
independent states but a strong central government that exercises