American History: States Plan for Constitutional Convention
December 20, 2012
Signing of the Constitution
Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.
This week in our series, we begin the story of a document that defined a nation: the United States Constitution.
The 13 American colonies declared their independence from Britain in 1776. But they had to fight for that independence in a long war that followed. During that war, the states were united by an agreement called the Articles of Confederation.
But the union of 13 states was loosely organized. The Articles of Confederation created a weak central government. The document did not create courts or provide for a president or other executive to carry out laws.
The Articles of Confederation did create a Congress. But that legislature had little power or money. When British General Charles Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia, a messenger brought the news to the Congress. But Congress could not even pay the messenger. So money had to be collected from each member.
The war ended in 1783 with the Treaty of Paris. Even before then, three influential Americans had called for a change in this loose confederation of states. The three were George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. They urged the formation of a strong central government.
George Washington commanded America's troops during the revolution. He opposed the Articles of Confederation because they provided little support for his army. His soldiers struggled with shortages of food, warm clothing, shoes and other supplies.
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