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The Constitution and the Founding of America
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Concept Version 5
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The Annapolis Convention

The Annapolis Convention, led by Alexander Hamilton, was one of two conventions that met to amend the Articles of Confederation.

Learning Objective

  • Discuss the impact of the Annapolis Convention on the U.S. Constitution


Key Points

    • Alexander Hamilton called delegates to Annapolis, Maryland to discuss ways to amend the Articles of Confederation so the government would run more effectively.
    • Of the thirteen states, only five send representatives. The representatives met in September of 1786 but did not proceed because of the low representation. Instead, they suggested that a group of delegates meet in Philadelphia that following May.
    • At the Philadelphia Convention in May 1787, the delegates created the United States Constitution.

Term

  • Annapolis Convention

    The Annapolis Convention was a meeting in 1786 in Annapolis, Maryland, where twelve delegates from five states (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia) met and unanimously called for a constitutional convention.


Full Text

Long dissatisfied with the weak Articles of Confederation, Alexander Hamilton of New York played a major leadership role in drafting a resolution for a constitutional convention, which was later to be called the Annapolis Convention. Hamilton's efforts brought his desire to have a more powerful, more financially independent federal government one step closer to reality .

Alexander Hamilton

Hamilton called the Annapolis Convention together and played a prominent role in the Philadelphia Convention the following year.

The defects that the convention was to remedy were those barriers that limited trade or commerce between the largely independent states under the Articles of Confederation. The convention, named A Meeting of Commissioners to Remedy Defects of the Federal Government, met from September 11 to September 14, 1786. "New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and North Carolina had appointed commissioners who failed to arrive in Annapolis in time to attend the meeting, while Connecticut, Maryland, South Carolina and Georgia had taken no action at all. Because of the small representation, the Annapolis Convention did not deem "it advisable to proceed on the business of their mission. " After an exchange of views, the Annapolis delegates unanimously submitted a report to their respective States in which they suggested that a convention of representatives from all the States meet at Philadelphia on the second Monday in May, 1787. The report expressed the hope that more states would be represented and that their delegates or deputies would be authorized to examine areas broader than simply commercial trade. At the resulting Philadelphia Convention of 1787, delegates produced the United States Constitution.

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