Article 1 of 9 · 1765–1789
1765–1789: From colonial resistance to a constitutional Union
Individuals: George Washington (1732–1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), James Madison (1751–1836), Alexander Hamilton (1755/57–1804), John Jay (1745–1829)
The United States did not become a durable republic merely by rejecting a king. Between independence and the first federal government, its leaders had to discover why thirteen victorious states could still fail to govern together.
A quarrel over authority becomes a revolution
In March 1765 Parliament enacted the Stamp Act, requiring tax stamps on many printed materials used in the British colonies. Opposition grew not simply over the amount of tax but over who had the authority to impose it. Colonial assemblies argued that laws affecting their inhabitants should answer to representatives those inhabitants had chosen. Parliament repealed the tax in 1766 while asserting its power to legislate for the colonies. The constitutional disagreement survived the repeal. Samuel Adams organized resistance in Massachusetts; Benjamin Franklin sought accommodation in London; other colonists remained loyal to the Crown. None of these groups yet spoke for a single settled American nation.
After fighting began in April 1775, the Continental Congress became both an emergency war council and an experiment in shared political authority. Thomas Jefferson drafted the principal language of the Declaration adopted on July 4, 1776, with revisions from Congress and a committee that included John Adams and Franklin. It announced that governments rested on the consent of the governed, but the people making that announcement lived in a society marked by enslavement, property restrictions and the dispossession of Indigenous peoples. The new political claim and the limits of those permitted to exercise it existed together from the beginning.
Victory brought a government that could ask more easily than command
Congress approved the Articles of Confederation in November 1777; they took effect after final state ratification on March 1, 1781. Under them, the states retained extensive sovereignty. Congress could conduct diplomacy and request funds, but it lacked a general power to tax individuals directly. Wartime cooperation had helped armies in the field; peacetime debt, disputes over trade and inconsistent state policies showed how much the new government depended on voluntary state action.
When Britain recognized American independence in the Treaty of Paris in 1783, George Washington resigned his army commission rather than hold political power by military force. His resignation established an example, not a legal guarantee: victorious commanders elsewhere had turned armies into personal regimes. Massachusetts farmers protesting debts and courts in 1786–1787, in what became known as Shays’ Rebellion, provided another warning that neither state governments nor Congress commanded universal confidence. Leaders disagreed about whether the solution was stronger central government or stronger safeguards against it.
Philadelphia replaces repair with redesign
Delegates gathered in Philadelphia in May 1787, publicly charged with considering changes to the Articles. James Madison brought plans for a more capable national government; Alexander Hamilton wanted a much stronger executive and national authority. Roger Sherman proposed an accommodation between populous and smaller states that helped produce a House apportioned by population and a Senate with equal state representation. The meeting did not simply polish the Articles. It proposed a new constitutional government, with ratification to come from conventions in the states.
The Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787. Nine states ratified by June 21, 1788, and the new federal government began operating in 1789. Washington took the presidential oath on April 30. That sequence helps explain the American Republic’s origins: military independence in 1783 was an achievement, but a republic also needed a lawful transfer of power, dependable public finances, courts and a way to resolve disputes among its own members. The next chapter follows the unresolved arguments embedded in the new charter.
Dates & decisions
- 1765: Stamp Act renews debate over representation and Parliament’s authority.
- July 4, 1776: Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence.
- March 1, 1781: Articles of Confederation fully ratified.
- 1783: Treaty of Paris recognizes independence; Washington relinquishes military command.
- 1786–1787: Shays’ Rebellion exposes weaknesses and tensions.
- September 17, 1787: Constitution signed in Philadelphia.
- April 30, 1789: Washington inaugurated as first president under the Constitution.