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Chapter 8
Crisis and Constitution
1776–1789
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Explain the significant features of early republican experiments such as state
constitutions and the Confederation.
• Describe the role of western temptations, foreign intrigues, and state disputes in postwar
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
American rebels won their independence from Great Britain. Even so, in many ways the war
heightened the existing divisions within American society. Such divisions, magnified by the
strain of waging a long military conflict, returned to trouble the new republic. Added to older
tensions over racial, ethnic, sectional, and religious diversity were a new set of difficulties
THEMES
Republican Experiments
Strong local loyalties to the states, not the Union, as well as the conviction that republics were
not suited to large territories, determined the shape of the first state constitutions. These crucial
early experiments in establishing a republican government maintained the basic structure of the
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also departed from British practice by insisting on written state constitutions, a law superior to
the government that defined the full scope of popular liberty. While Americans lavished attention
on their state constitutions, the national government received little attention. In fact, it took four
years after 1777 for all the states to approve the Articles of Confederation. The Articles provided
The Temptations of Peace
Many conflicts arose from the expanding settlement of the West. That region confronted not only
international difficulties but internal problems as well. As the British tried to lure Vermonters
into Canada and the Spanish encouraged secession among southwesterners, some states
squabbled over conflicting claims to western land. An even more serious contest arose between
“landless” and “landed” states—the latter claiming large western tracts under the terms of their
old colonial charters. Only in 1781, when the last of the landed states, Virginia, finally ceded its
Republican Society
As political leaders struggled to shape new republican governments, ordinary Americans
struggled to define a new republican society. Newly rich families came to demand and receive
greater status; workers began to organize; some women claimed a right to greater political
consideration, more freedom to divorce, and better educational opportunities; religious dissenters
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From Confederation to Constitution
In the mid-1780s, the political crisis of the Confederation came to a head, prompted
by the controversy over the Jay-Gardoqui Treaty and Shays’s Rebellion. The response
was the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Although the convention was charged only with
revising the Articles of Confederation, it produced instead an entirely new frame of government
LECTURE STRATEGIES
The Confederation and Women
The Confederation period warrants a separate lecture on women because of important changes in
their lives ushered in by the Revolution. Although women did not gain political rights—and even
lost ground in the realm of property rights during the early national period—they did win both
The Early State Constitutions
The early state constitutions should also receive fuller coverage, and here the best information
can be found in the relevant chapters of Gordon Wood’s The Creation of the American Republic,
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The Formation of the Constitution
The formation of the Constitution offers a number of lecture topics. A lively description of
debates and delegates is available in Clinton Rossiter’s 1787: The Grand Convention and
Christopher Collier and James Lincoln Collier, Decision in Philadelphia: The Constitutional
TEACHING SUGGESTIONS
The Frontier Reconsidered
The Confederation era affords an opportunity for referring in discussion to a theme developed in
earlier chapters: the significance of the frontier in American history. The emphasis in the
coverage of this period, as in that of earlier decades, is anti-Turnerian: the frontier figures as a
source of conflict. In this instance, that conflict has both an international and a domestic
Anti-Federalists at the Constitutional Convention
There are any number of approaches to discussing the Constitutional Convention, but one
promising tack can be pursued by focusing on the Anti-Federalist opposition. What would be the
response today if a similar convention were convened for revising the present Constitution, and
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Did the Founding Generation Seek to Build a Democracy?
Take as your point of departure the popular assumption that the U.S. Constitution created a
democratic form of government and ask students to split into groups in which they look for
evidence that runs counter to this belief. Students will readily identify slavery as a significant
What Is the Purpose of the Second Amendment?
Ask students to build an explanation for the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights strictly on
the basis of American colonial experience. If necessary, review the ways Americans fought the
Revolution—with militias and an underfunded Continental Army. Remind them that James
POWER OF PROCESS FOR PRIMARY SOURCES
Power of Process for Primary Sources is a critical thinking tool for reading and writing about
primary sources. As part of Connect History, McGraw-Hill Education’s learning platform, Power
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of Process contains a database of over 400 searchable primary sources in addition to the
capability for instructors to upload their own sources. Instructors can then select a series of
strategies for students to use to analyze and comment upon a source. The Power of Process
framework helps students develop essential academic skills such as understanding, analyzing,
and synthesizing readings and visuals such as maps, leading students toward higher order
thinking and writing.
The following primary source documents, carefully selected by the authors to coordinate with