ABSTRACT
By waging war and declaring independence, the new American states raised vital questions concerning their constitutional and legal status. Nine months before the Declaration of Independence, John Adams called for the colonies to form new governments and suggested how this might be done (document 1). Much of the most important experiments with constitution-making took place at the state level. Pennsylvania acted relatively quickly and adopted one of the most radical constitutions of the era (document 2). When lawmakers in Massachusetts attempted to act with similar rapidity they were opposed by the voters and the proposed constitution was rejected. A special convention was convened and it proposed a new frame of government which found favour with the voters (documents 3–4). Of course, while the individual states grappled with constitutional questions, the states collectively had to draft a frame of government, while waging war for their existence. The result was the Articles of Confederation (document 5), which created a relatively weak central government. The apparent weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation frustrated some politicians and theorists who sought to create a stronger federal government (document 6).
