After the American Revolution on September 3, 1783, many veterans that fought in the war returned to their regular lives as farmers. But, soon to learn, many farmers seen that they would be heavily taxed from each state to pay off the country’s $80 million war debt to the British. About $11 Million dollars was set to pay other nations that gave support to the Americans during the war, while the rest was to pay for all the continental materials and supplies that was used. Most of these taxes forced many farmers and veterans into huge debt and most into jail. Some farmers had to give up most of their land to pay off the taxes, and this made the farmers extremely angry and it made a big uprising between the farmers and the government. Some farmers started to resist, like one farmer, Daniel Shays.
He led a huge group of farmers on a Ammunition supply area in Springfield, Massachusetts. His goal was to force many local courts to close, so farmers wouldn’t go to jail for their debts. Even though his group was eventually calmed down by state’s militia, many delegates later on found this alarming, for a seeming threat of anarchy. These war vets were not the only ones treated poorly, so were Loyalists and some slaves. More than 100,000 loyalists fled to Canada to get away from the harsh treatments to come. Many of the loyalists who stayed were constantly harassed and had some land taken away from them from people. Slaves that were to be freed from the British had the same punishments. The British had protected the American lands from European countries looking to expand their Empires. Many people were uncertain of the outcome of revolting against the British and winning the war. A few years later, many delegates met at George Washington’s home in Mount Vernon to draft a new Constitution, the Articles of Confederation.
Most of the delegates that met were wealthy and influential men who were very well educated with the law and all were familiar with the Greek writings. Even though most of them shared common traits, they had completely different opinions on how the government should be formed. Some men like Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, both agreed that the government should be able to tax, while some others strongly disagreed with this power.
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George Washington was chosen as the presiding officer for the convention which he was to keep peace between the delegates in order to keep order, and was to keep the motives of the delegates pure. The odd thing of the convention was the delegates chose to keep their votes and talks secret to the people. Although this was a rule to follow, some delegates chose to take secret notes while the convention was happening.
