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How Post American Revolution Unrest Caused Oppressive Government.

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The transition from colonies to independent nation was not an easy one for the United States. 

The people and Founding Fathers had to unify a diverse group of people with a variety of concerns and interests. 

This coalition had to find a way to fight and beat the most powerful army in the world, while at the same time deal with Loyalists amongst them. 

The Revolutionary War ignited on April 18th, 1775 when the British general in Boston sent 700 troops to Lexington to confiscate munitions from the militia. 

Yet, even though hostilities had started, not all colonies had yet decided that war was the answer. 

While eventually the states had no choice but to join together, being branded as traitors and rebels, there was much work to do in order to have a working government in America. 

Much of the study on this time period focuses on the military actions of the patriots and the British, yet little attention is paid to the aftermath of the Revolution. 

Everybody knows that we win the war, and George Washington becomes president, but what most people don’t know is that 6 years passes between the two. 

These six years mark the period of post American Revolution unrest during which our nation was truly formed and policies instituted that would have repercussions to this very day. 

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Articles of Confederation

Post American Revolution unrest has been blamed on the Articles of Confederation as they were seen as weak by many proponents of big government.

Many of the Federalists wanted a stronger national government rather than loose confederation of states. 

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Treaty of Paris

In 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, officially ending the war with Great Britain and acknowledged the United State’s sovereignty and independence.

Despite the fact that the war was over, there still was much disarray and chaos amongst the states and Confederation. 

In 1786, a group of disgruntled farmers suffering from tax burdens and facing imprisonment revolted in what was known as Shay’s Rebellion, one of the most extreme examples of post American Revolution unrest. 

The rebellion was put down by stat militia but proved to be an excuse used by those that wanted a stronger national government to get their way.

Despite being able to pass laws like the North West Ordinance, the confederation was set to be replaced and the Constitutional Convention was formed. 

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Constitutional Convention 

Many think that the ratification of the Constitution and election of George Washington would end the post American Revolution unrest, which had been used as cause to form a stronger national government.

But the new nation still had many growing pains. 

Alexander Hamilton, the newly appointed Secretary of the Treasury, favored a strong national government which could impose tariffs and taxes on the populace.

Being a banker and having ties to the European banking elite, the Rothschilds, Hamilton pushed for the national government to take on the state’s war time debts. 

By assuming the debts and setting up a privately controlled national bank, Hamilton knew he could manipulate the system.

He saw a national deficit as a way to control; because once the debt was there he mandated taxes on the people to pay for them. 

Hamilton convinced Congress to pass a tax on whiskey distillers. Yet the tax favored larger producers and heavily taxed smaller ones.

Pennsylvania protestors rose up in defiance of the tax, and Washington and Hamilton used this rebellion as a testing ground for their new federal powers. 

So, the unrest after the Revolutionary War led to stronger than needed federal government, which, from the beginning, has been controlled by the financial and political elite. Effects of which still echo today.

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