Title: Annapolis Convention · George Washington's Mount Vernon
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Content: Interstate trade barriers and disputes ran ubiquitous, with each state adhering to its own currency, debt, and regulatory strictures. Meanwhile, the Articles of Confederation proved an inadequate if not an entirely impotent political framework, unable to raise taxes or regulate trade. 6 In such disrepair, the nation tumbled into deep economic recession in 1785, as reactive uprisings like the infamous Shays' Rebellion of 1786 became commonplace. 7
The American Economy After The Revolutionary War from Mount Vernon on Vimeo
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This opens in a new window. The American Economy After The War
Having dedicated his adult life to the cause of American independence, George Washington lamented America’s “half-starved, limping government” with sadness as well as frustration, blaming the nation’s economic and political hardships on the “disinclination of the individual States to yield competent powers to Congress for the Federal Government.” 8 With each state obstinately regarding itself as “all-wise and all-powerful,” Washington predicted, “our downfall as a nation” would inevitably come. 9 Amid the surge of popular uprisings during 1786, Washington’s fears for his country degenerated into a veritable nightmare. Writing to his good friend Henry Knox in December 1786, he reflected on America’s state of affairs: “ My mind does not know how to realize it, as a thing in actual existence, so strange – so wonderful does it appear to me!” 10
Yet while bemoaning America’s present state, Washington still espoused an ambitious dream for its future.