“America in Crisis” did a great job, as Rachel said it would, of pointing out the big flaws in individual state governments with a lack of central authority. While state governments seemed like a good idea to begin with, and allowed unlikely candidates to become involved in politics, the lack of a unifying force made international affairs difficult, especially when it came to paying back debts. After time had elapsed it became clear that smaller governments, which had been breeding grounds for American politicians and the various parties, needed not to be replaced, but reformed, and a central power needed to be added.
“Prelude to the Constitution” gave more of a telling of the characters involved in the convention, in addition to the political climate and issues leading up to the convention. While many were certain something needed to be done, no one could agree upon exactly what, and states were hesitant and in some cases blatantly resistant to the convention. Madison and Washington both played roles, the first in his research and drafting of blueprint for how the ideal government should work, and Washington in his experience and credibility, helping to draw delegates to the table in order to discuss Americas future.
America needed to find a way to pay off its debts, both foreign and domestic, to those who had helped fund the war. The solders who had fought needed their compensation, and the wealthy who had lent needed to be repaid. Because the individual state governments forbid any kind of over arching taxes, and would not repay the debts themselves, a new system needed to be created in order for the states to remain in tact, and thus the convention was called for.
I don’t know whether we ought to respond individually to Rachel’s prompt or extend the discussion into other areas of the reading. Assuming the latter- seeing as the prompt has kinda been nailed into the dust:
I’m especially curious about what motivated leaders to shift America’s governmental system, and what didn’t motivate them. Given what we read tonight, Jefferson, Adams, and the other big names reminded me of some floundering CSW committee- “we should really meet soon- no, like we really should- ok we’re serious this time”- and so on.
“Buffon declared that the North America climate stunted human and animal development… Madison and Jefferson spent many hours measuring American and European weasels, woodchucks… Humiliation was as powerful an impetus toward reform as anything else” (13)
“The 1787 Convention got started eleven days late because of tardiness” (15)
“[Washington] valued his reputation too much to associate himself with a debacle” (16)
That seems totally ridiculous- that Washington would want to skip out on a meeting to discuss his country’s future because he didn’t want to be associated with people who couldn’t get anything done.
Coming off of Olivia’s first paragraph, “you have this totally radical separation from the big brother and then that super righteous radical spirit kind of… turns in on itself”. Pretty damn stressful- but how amazing that the Founding Fathers (I prefer “early community organizers”) managed to pull the country out of that. I’m still a little unclear on what ideas got voiced in the 1787 convention and why the results of the convention were the way they were.
It all seems haphazard. How far into the future were the convention’s organizers looking? Like a butterfly effect, they might not have thought they were building a world power- but I’m sure that the decisions they made at the convention all had some effect on where we’re at right now as a country. For example, Travis brought up that “nations around the world preyed on the disharmony between the American States” when it was still a disorganized confederacy. In ’87, it seemed like the nascent government was concerned with resolving immediate foreign policy issues, but they built a strong base. The US has very few problems, it seems, with small and poorly-networked countries- wanna mess, Bulgaria?
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