The American Yawp — Chapter Seven: A New Nation
Abridged for Intermediate-High Learners

After the Revolution, Americans celebrated their new nation with parades and days of thanksgiving. But the country was far less united than the celebrations suggested. Under the Articles of Confederation, the national government was weak, and the states acted like separate countries.

The crisis came in 1786, when thousands of indebted farmers in western Massachusetts rose up in Shays's Rebellion. Led by Daniel Shays, they blocked courthouses to stop judges from taking their farms for debt. State militia under Benjamin Lincoln arrested more than a thousand rebels. The rebellion convinced leaders like James Madison that the country needed a stronger central government.

In the summer of 1787, delegates from twelve states met in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation. (Rhode Island refused to come.) Instead, James Madison proposed an entirely new constitution: the Virginia Plan, with a strong national government of three branches — legislative, executive, and judicial. Small states feared losing power and supported the New Jersey Plan, which gave each state one vote. Roger Sherman's Great Compromise settled the argument: the House of Representatives would be based on population, while each state would get two senators. Enslaved people would count as three-fifths of a person for representation.

The delegates also created a single president, chosen by an electoral college. On September 17, 1787, they signed the Constitution, but it still had to be ratified by the states. Supporters, called Federalists, argued for it in the Federalist Papers. Opponents, the Anti-Federalists, feared a powerful national government and demanded a bill of rights. After fierce debate, enough states ratified the Constitution, and it took effect in 1788. To satisfy critics, Congress added the Bill of Rights — ten amendments — in 1791, and each amendment limited federal power.

Slavery poisoned these compromises. To win Southern support, the Constitution protected the Atlantic slave trade for twenty years. When Congress banned the trade in 1808, the law was poorly enforced, and slavery kept growing — especially after the 1794 cotton gin made cotton wildly profitable.

President Washington's cabinet was deeply divided. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton wanted a strong national government supporting business and industry. He proposed that the federal government assume the states' war debts, about $25 million, and create a Bank of the United States with a charter in 1791. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson opposed the bank as unconstitutional and wanted an economy of small farmers. The debate split the country into two parties: Hamilton's Federalists and Jefferson's Republicans. Each party had its own newspapers and supporters.

To pay the new national debt, Hamilton pushed a tax on whiskey in 1791. Western Pennsylvania farmers, who turned their grain into whiskey, were furious. In 1794, thousands took up arms in the Whiskey Rebellion. Washington sent a large federal army that crushed the uprising, proving the new government could enforce its laws.

Foreign affairs divided Americans further. The French Revolution of 1789 first thrilled Americans, but its violent Reign of Terror frightened many. When Britain and France went to war, Washington declared American neutrality. John Jay's 1794 treaty with Britain angered Jefferson's supporters, who favored France. Under President John Adams, the XYZ Affair — in which French agents demanded a bribe from American diplomats — led to an undeclared naval war with France. Fearing spies, Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, which allowed the deportation of foreigners and punished criticism of the government.

The bitter election of 1800 brought Jefferson to the presidency after the House of Representatives broke a tie in the electoral college. His supporters called it a "bloodless revolution." The young republic had survived rebellions, bitter party fights, and foreign crises. But the deepest divisions — over slavery, the power of the federal government, and the meaning of liberty — were only beginning.