ABSTRACT
Deepening distress and dreary prospects impelled active men to think about remedies. A profusion of letters, essays, reports, and statutes, setting forth a variety of proposals for reform, exhibited substantial agreement as to the causes of the depression but differed widely with respect to measures that should be adopted. Unhappily, many victims of hard times sought relief in direct action instead of concentrating their efforts on the state legislature. Governor Bowdoin at this time proposed that Massachusetts take steps to call a convention for the sake of endowing Congress with enlarged powers. In its diplomacy after the war Congress sought in the main to extend the markets abroad for American ships and products. In 1784, congress authorized Adams and Jefferson to negotiate commercial treaties with foreign powers and appropriated $80,000 for the purpose of placating the Barbary States of North Africa.
