The American Revolution: The Constitution—the First Piece in Becoming the United States of America

By Peter Cameron
October 2026

In September 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the American Revolution. Although the colonies were united geographically, the Articles of Confederation, adopted in 1781 as the government structure, allowed each state to operate largely on its own. As a result, each state functioned like an independent country, with its own tax system, currency, laws, legislatures and courts. This created chaos: states threatened war against one another, refused to accept each other’s currency, and struggled to work together under a weak national government. 

The states, suddenly freed of British rule, found themselves forced to come up with their own legal systems. British law had been their only guiding influence for centuries. Many states simply adopted the familiar British laws as their own. Massachusetts did just that. The debtor laws they adopted were based on the ancient British ones, specifying debtor prisons and confiscation of property to satisfy debts.

At the close of the war, hundreds of Massachusetts men came home to their farms. While away fighting, tax debt piled up. The farms were overgrown, crops not planted, and any income was a growing season away. The merchants of eastern Massachusetts, who had lent the state money to fight the war, clamored to be repaid. Massachusetts, with a fledgling tax system, didn’t have the money to repay them. The merchants demanded the debtor laws be enforced to raise funds. As a result, many veterans had their farms confiscated, or were thrown into prison for debts they had no chance of satisfying.

By 1786, the ex-soldier farmers were fed up. In August, representatives from 55 towns in Hampton County met and drew up a list of grievances against the Commonwealth. They demanded the cessation of debtor courts and actions, and a rewritten state constitution reflecting these changes. These demands sent chills through the politicians and merchants in eastern Massachusetts. They felt without tax collections the war debt could never be repaid. They refused the demands of the farmers.

The farmers were backed into a corner. On August 29, several hundred men from Northampton, and surrounding towns, marched to the courthouse there, blocked the doors, and shut it down. The scene was repeated in Worcester County and Berkshire County. The Governor called out the militia to quell the protests, only to have militia members join the protesters. An ex-soldier, Captain Shayes, became the quasi-leader of these actions. The Governor, siding with the Eastern merchants, hired a private army of mercenaries to put down the revolt. It ended at the Springfield Armory in February 1787. Shays was taken into custody, and others killed.

The scope of this rebellion convinced George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, among others, that the Articles of Confederation were not working as a governing model. Radical changes in the structure of our government and laws were needed. In September 1787, the Second Constitutional Convention was convened in Philadelphia. Historians have argued over how much Shay’s Rebellion influenced the decision to scrap the Articles of Confederation. But the delegates certainly were aware of it.

On June 21, 1888, New Hampshire voted to ratify the new constitution. It was the ninth state to do so, and fulfilled the 2/3 majority needed to enact the document. On that date the United States of America was truly born. We recently celebrated the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, a document that solidified our independent thinking. The Constitution, on the other hand, is the glue holding our fragile republic together. It codified the freedoms we fought for in the Revolution and are enumerated in the Declaration of Independence. It is a blueprint on how to run our government. It sets rules and regulations, as well as checks and balances, that were painstakingly thought out. Their goal was to prevent one person, or group, from becoming the monarchy that we fought to defeat during the Revolution. The ratification of the Constitution was the end of our struggle for independence and the beginning of our struggle to maintain our republic. There is a perception today that we are in a life and death struggle to maintain that republic. Undoubtedly, our best weapon in this struggle is the Constitution itself.

Next month: The Final Piece - The Bill of Rights