The Articles of Confederation
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parochial concerns of their individual States than in the general welfare
of the country. The American nation was still thought of as a group of
nation-States, and the members of Congress were reluctant to surrender
their power voluntarily. The government was paralyzed.
If a movement for reform was to succeed, therefore, it would have to
be launched outside of Congress. It began by chance in 1785, when Virginia and Maryland signed an agreement settling a longstanding dispute
over conflicting commercial interests on the Potomac River. Enthused by
this accomplishment, the Maryland legislature came up with the idea
that it might be possible for a number of States, through interstate agreements, to improve their commercial relations. Accordingly, the Maryland
assembly proposed a commercial convention to Virginia that would include the neighboring States of Pennsylvania and Delaware. Virginia
responded by suggesting that the invitation be extended to all of the
States, and that a convention be held to consider a general commercial
agreement.
Maryland agreed, and in September 1786 a convention met in Annapolis. Only five States were represented, however, and no delegates
from New England, the Carolinas, or Georgia made an appearance.
Two important delegates to the Annapolis Convention were Alexander
Hamilton and James Madison. Seizing an opportunity to organize a constitutional reform effort, they persuaded the delegates unanimously to
adopt an address to the States, calling upon them to send delegates to a
constitutional convention in Philadelphia the following May. But Congress
refused to give its approval, and the proposal seemed headed for defeat.
In November 1786, however, the Virginia legislature broke the impasse with a resolution urging all of the States to send delegates to the
Philadelphia Convention. Within a few days, New Jersey responded favorably, followed by North Carolina in January and Delaware in February of 1787. Perceiving the inevitable, a reluctant Congress adopted,
without reference to the Annapolis recommendation, its own resolution
providing for a convention to meet at the same time and place. All of the
other States, with the exception of an intransigent Rhode Island, thereupon agreed to participate in the Philadelphia proceedings. The movement for constitutional reform now had the backing of the nation’s leading statesmen. All the while the Federal Convention was in session in