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Constitutional Achievement: America
were clogging interstate commerce and actually leading
to hostilities that bordered on open warfare between
the states.
Hard times have a way of compelling people to pull
together. The Revolution did just that, as it produced
a workable common denominator for people of different
races, creeds, and widely different economic
circumstances. But when the war was over a confusion
and discouragement crept in.
Revolutionary leaders not only had to negotiate a
peace treaty and to try to hold the·Continental Congress
together, they also had to constrain the states from
open warfare. Additionally, a way had to be found to
pay sizable war debt owed
~o
the French government.
So it was that the leaders of the revolution, with
state constitutions in hand, attempting to develop an
overall Constitution which would mold the separate
states into a cooperative federation.
It
would be
designed to work on the principles of individual
freedom, liberty, and law.
The United States
Constitution was, therefore, born out of dire necessity.
Under the Articles of Confederation, the Congress
was unable to tax, and it lacked the power to regulate
domestic and foreign commerce.
As would be
expected, those persons whose economic interests were
endangered by political confusion led the movement for
the new Constitution.
There were land speculators who believed that the
value of their holdings would be increased. There were
domestic merchants who desired stable currency and
unrestricted interstate commerce.
There were
merchants and manufacturers who wanted protection
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