Following the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress drafted the first constitution that would govern the thirteen states in rebellion against the British Empire. The Articles of Confederation, which were adopted in 1777, were very different from the Constitution that drafted in 1787 and ratified in 1788. Unlike the Constitution, the Articles of Confederation did not create a strong central government. Rather, the document created a loose alliance or friendship of independent states. In this system each state had an independent legislature that controlled state finances, laws, and militia. While states did send representatives to the Continental Congress, this representative body had no power to tax, raise and army, or enforce any laws they were able to pass. Furthermore, each state held veto power and any law could be vetoed by only one state. Following the disbanding of the Continental Army after the Treaty of Paris officially ended the Revolutionary War in 1783, the Continental Congress held no real power. Each state controlled their own debt, issued their own currency, and made their own laws. Many leading Americans, who labeled themselves "Federalists" including Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and eventually George Washington, recognized this loose confederation as a recipe for disaster. Economic depression was prominent during the 1780s as states failed to be able to meet their Revolutionary War debts, states pressured common farmers and artisans, many of whom were veterans of the war, into paying raised taxes. When farmers could not pay, their farms were foreclosed. Not only did this system anger a great deal of Americans, it also meant that Europeans failed to invest in the state projects like road, canal, and dam construction. Furthermore, the Americans were unable to compete in the global economic market which had provided the backbone for the colonial economy. Recognizing these shortcomings, the Federalists pushed for a new governing document. In May of 1787, a secrete meeting in Philadelphia began drafting the Constitution that created a federal government with the power to pass national laws, national taxes, raise an army, subsume state debts, and issue national currency. Following the completion of the document, it was disseminated to the states for ratification. It was only after the 9th state, New Hampshire, ratified the Constitution in June of 1788 that the nation could truly be considered unified. However, the "unified" aspect of the country was very tenuous. Questions concerning states' rights and the limits of the federal government lingered and would plague the new nation through the middle of the nineteenth century culminating in the secession crisis and the ensuing Civil War.

Sources:

1. Woody Holton, Unruly Americans

2. William G. Freehling, Prelude to the Civil War

3. Max M. Edling, A Revolution in Favor of Government