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Period: to
Governing in revolutionary times/reframing the American government
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Maryland ratifies the Articles of confederation
Plan for national government proposed by the Continental Congress of 1777 and ratified in March 1781. The Articles of Confederation gave the national government limited powers, reflecting widespread fear of centralized authority, and were replaced by the Constitution in 1789. -
Virginia assembly approved the Statute of Religious Freedom
1786 Virginia Assembly statute that ensured the separation of church and state and largely guaranteed freedom of religion. Many other states followed Virginia’s lead. -
Captain Daniel Shays leads an uprising against debt collection in Massachussetts
Rebellion by western Massachusetts farmers caused primarily by economic hardships in the aftermath of the American Revolution. -
Edmund Randolph proposes the Virginia Plan at the Constitutional Convention
A plan put forth at the beginning of the 1787 Constitutional Convention that introduced the ideas of a strong central government, a bicameral legislature, and a system of representation based on population. -
Three-Fifths Compromise is Proposed
With little apparent debate, the committee decided that representation in the House of Representatives was to be based on a record of the entire free population and three-fifths of “all other persons” — that is, enslaved African Americans. If delegates had moral scruples about this three-fifths compromise, proposed on June 11th, 1787, most found them outweighed by the urgency of settling the troublesome question of representation.Still, slavery was on the minds of delegates. -
William Patterson proposes the New Jersey plan
A proposal to the 1787 Constitutional Convention that highlighted the needs of small states by creating one legislative house in the federal government and granting each state equal representation in it. -
Thomas Jefferson drafts the Northwest Ordinance
The act of the Confederation Congress provided for the survey, sale, and eventual division into states of the Northwest Territory. A 1787 act then clarified the process by which territories could become states. -
55 delegates meet at the constitutional convention
Meeting to draft the United States Constitution in Philadelphia from May to September of 1787. This document established the framework for a strong federal government with executive, legislative, and judicial branches. -
The Federalist papers get published
85 essays by Federalists Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. Published in newspapers throughout the U.S., The Federalist Papers promoted the ratification of the Constitution.