Notes

It seems counterintuitive that a body of government would be tasked with declaring war, but not be allowed to commission an armed force. According to the Articles of Confederation, Congress had the sole power to make peace and war, but did not have the authority to raise an army of its own: “The United States in Congress assembled, shall have the sole and exclusive right and power of determining on peace and war.” Instead, the national government had to rely on state militia. Since it was dependent on state troops, Congress was severely limited in its capabilities to quickly and effectively responding to internal and external threats. Abroad, Congress failed to defend American from the continuing threat of Britain following the Revolutionary War. Shortly after signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, Britain began to break the agreement.


Bickerstaff’s Boston Almanack of 1787 (c. 1787), National Picture Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.
“Shays’s Rebellion.” The portraits of Daniel Shays and Job Shattuck, leaders of the Massachusetts “Regulators,” 1787.
By 1784, the British were infringing upon American fishing rights and the British Royal Navy was impressing American sailors into forced conscription. Without the aid of a unified military, though, Congress was incapable of fighting back and protecting America’s sovereignty. At home, the inability of Congress to decisively put down the internal threat of Shay’s Rebellion was a direct result of the lack of a capable national army. The rebellion began in 1786 due to the post-war economic depression and the American government’s harsh policies in response to the economic downturn. Rebels initially protested peacefully, resisting the collection of taxes and debts from struggling Americans. However, following the arrest of several of their leaders, rebels became much more militant. The national government failed to come up with the funds to raise an army capable of putting down the rebellion. It took a group of rich merchants from Massachusetts pooling their resources to pay for a militia. The rebellion was eventually put down, but the inability of the national government to act effectively made the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation ever more apparent. Shay’s Rebellion served as one impetus for the creation of a stronger, central government in the upcoming Constitution.