The New Nation Faces Challenges Chapter 5 Section 2 The New Nation Faces Challenges

The New Nation Faces Challenges Since the Articles was weak, the government couldn’t keep a standing army and the The U.S. couldn’t enforce the terms of the Treaty of Paris Trade was a huge issue also, Britain closed many of it ports to Americans British also forced Americans to high tariffs on their imports or exports

The New Nation Faces Challenges Trade With Spain 1784- Spain closed the lower Mississippi River to Trade with America Congress tried to work things out but due to the weakness of the Articles, it didn’t get enough votes and the negotiations ended. People started seeing the need for a strong central government Impact of a closed market Without the West Indies, and Mississippi there was a major disparity in imports vs. exports Hurt American business and Congress couldn’t fix anything States worked separately instead of together

The New Nation Faces Challenges Economic Problems Trade laws differed state to state It was difficult for a business to go across state lines War debt had mounted and no one was collecting taxes, so individual states printed their own money The Inflow of money caused inflation Increase in prices of goods and lowering the value of money Weak Economy Paper money became worth almost nothing, and people who had lent money were losing out The loss of trade, with inflation caused a depression to hit. Period of low economic activity combined with rise in unemployment.

The New Nation Faces Challenges Shay’s Rebellion Massachusetts refused to print money and tried to pay off debt with new taxes. Farmers hit very hard Farmers rebel Aug 1786- rebel and close the courts If courts were closed no on could lose their land Daniel Shays led one of these revolts in Sept. against a court in Springfield, he was threatened with death, but that only made him fight more The uprisings became known as Shays’s Rebellion He was defeated and 14 leaders were sentenced to Death

The New Nation Faces Challenges Calls for Change The Rebellions and lack of trade showed the weakness of the Articles of Confederation 1786- Virginia called for a meeting with the other states 9 sent delegates to Annapolis, MD. Due to the turn out another meeting was called for in Philadelphia in May of 1787 to revise the Articles of Confederation Became known as the Constitutional Convention.