US Constitutional History .

Running Head: US CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY
US Constitutional History
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1US CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY
The Philadelphia Convention of 1787, known also as the Constitutional Convention, is a
landmark affair in the political history of the United States of America, as it brought together
delegates from the northern and the southern states to propose the creation of a constitutional
framework that would serve in future as the Constitution of the United States of America. The
Articles of Confederation that preceded the Convention were acknowledged by Americans for
the most part, yet it was felt that there were many areas and provisions that required being
changed or revised (Bowen & Underwood, 1966). This essay talks about the backdrop against
which the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 was formed, the provisions and articles that were
created and deliberated upon and the various powers that it accorded to the American Congress.
The essay concludes that in spite of a brave and sincere attempt being made by the delegates to
create a unified national government, the extreme opposition and resistance faced by members
from the southern states, especially when it came to vetoing the rights and views of individual
states in certain matters, resulted in many of these powers being stripped away from the
Congress, thus making it weak rather than strong. The new constitution that the convention
sought to create was thus not as powerful, united and strong as any national constitutional
framework should be, with plenty of powers and rights being divided among and given to the
states.
Bowen and Underwood (1966) argue that by the year of 1786, the Articles of
Confederation were recognized as the cornerstone of a brand new America by the American
people, and it was officially adopted in the year 1777. However, they state that what was also
acknowledged at the time, was that the Articles of Confederation were in urgent need of
modifications. The Articles did not provide the Congress with any power to take charge of and

2US CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY
supervise domestic affairs in America, that is, no authority to regulate trade and commerce and
no power to impose taxes.
Bowen and Underwood (1966) speak of how, deprived of coercive powers entirely, the
American Congress became fully dependent on all the financial contributions that were made by
the different American states and more often than not, these states would turn down the requests
for financial aid on the part of the Congress. Thus, the Congress was in no position to pay back
all of the foreign or overseas financial loans that it had acquired for support and assistance during
the American War of Independence.
Bowen and Underwood (1966) also argue how the Congress had none of the financial
resources that were needed in order to pay and to reward the soldiers who had proven to be so
valiant during this American Revolution. The country became officially bankrupt in 1786 while
facing many other threats and challenges at the same given time. Northern and southern states
entered into a full blown war with each other over economic reasons and for economic
advantage, at a time when the nation could ill afford to go to war financially, and a civil war at
that.
In the meantime, Bowen and Underwood (1966) argue, that the creditor class in America
had worries of their own. A state legislature in Rhode Island that was mostly dominated by
debtor classes, that is, people who were heavily in debts, passed a new law, whereby all existing
debts, large or small, were forgiven and recalled. This is largely due to the fact that a measure
was considered by this same legislature for the distribution of property in a period of every
fourteen years. Things were even worse in the western part of Massachusetts where a group of