When the Revolutionary War was over, in 1783, the 13 states of America were in an economic depression. All of these states were deeply in debt from loans taken during the war, and their economies were frozen by a lack of credit. The Americans owned very little hard currency, and no country or creditor in Europe was willing to lend the additional sums the Americans would need to get their stagnant economy back on its feet.
Shay’s rebellion in 1786 was the last straw for George Washington. Those farmers in western Massachusetts were so desperate that they were willing to defy the law in order to avoid paying their lawful debts. It was an attack not just on credit, but upon private property itself.
Washington and all those who drafted and promoted the Constitution did so only because it was the only way that faith in the credit of the United States could be established. Once the new federal government, with ample tariff revenues at its disposal, agreed to assume all revolutionary War debts, foreign lenders would have enough confidence in our credit worthiness to extend new loans. Soon enough, the economy took off, and prosperity blossomed in the new country.
That’s why we have a constitution. It’s also why the Constitution needs to be amended, using Article V.
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