Farmers were hit particularly hard by the national economic
crisis, although poverty was everywhere. The troubles came to a
climax in 1786, when Daniel Shays of western Massachusetts led
a revolt of farmers to protest the state's high taxes, which had
been increased to unprecedented heights in order to pay back debts.
Rumors quickly spread that an army of 15,000 troops was ready to
march, but Shay's Rebellion, as it came to be known, was not nearly
that large. Nevertheless, the uprising prompted many in the government to
call for reform. Several states, including New York, agreed to meet
in Annapolis, Maryland to discuss possible amendments to some areas
of the Articles of Confederation. The conference was to be held
in September of 1786.
Very few people took the conference seriously. Alexander
Hamilton was one of five delegates chosen to represent New York
at the conference, but not all of his colleagues even bothered
to arrive. Without a majority of the states, it was impossible
to amend the Articles.
Those delegates who did arrive, however, refused to abandon their
vision of reform. Led by Hamilton, they sent another request to
the state governments requesting their presence at another convention
to be held in Philadelphia in 1787. Unlike the Annapolis conference,
the Philadelphia Convention would meet to revise the Articles entirely,
not just certain areas.
Toward the end of 1786, Hamilton was elected to serve
in the 1787 session of the New York State Assembly. As an Assemblyman, Hamilton
worked with several issues. He continued to fight for the protection
of loyalists against persecution and drafted proposals to solve
the economic crisis, but his main goal was to convince the other
legislators in the New York State Assembly to send a delegation
to Philadelphia to amend the Articles of Confederation. Hamilton's
proposal was met with bitter opposition from New York Governor
George Clinton, who feared the power of a stronger national government.
In the end, Hamilton achieved only a half-victory: the Assembly
agreed to send a delegation to Philadelphia, but this delegation
was made up of Hamilton and two Clinton supporters.
The Assembly's decision crippled Hamilton's influence
at the convention. Hamilton's colleagues, Robert Yates and John
Lansing, did not prevent Hamilton from making his own speeches
at the convention, but refused to support him in other ways. After
a month of debating, Hamilton left the convention and returned
to New York because he felt the delegates were not doing as much
as they should to strengthen the national government. Lansing and Yates
returned to New York as well, although their concern was that the
representatives in Philadelphia were amending the Articles of Confederation
too much rather than too little. With his two main opponents out
of the way, Hamilton rushed back to Philadelphia to assist his
fellow delegates. Convention rules stated that one man alone could
not cast a vote for his state, but Hamilton could still push the
other delegates into creating a stronger national union.
In order to understand Hamilton's desire for a stronger
central government, one must first understand Hamilton's personal
political philosophy. Hamilton extracted many of his beliefs from
the writings of David
Hume, an eighteenth-century English philosopher who
believed that society could only function if strong government
institutions existed. Hamilton believed that government served
three purposes: to foster commerce, agriculture, and revenue; to
encourage "domestic tranquility and happiness"; and to be stable
and strong enough to earn the respect of foreign governments. These
ideas contrasted sharply with the prevalent philosophies of the
time. Most Americans extracted their beliefs from philosophers like Locke and
Montesquieu, who believed that government derived its authority
from the people in order to protect personal property. Because
Hamilton's philosophical views differed greatly from the rest of
the delegates' beliefs, many at the convention regarded him as
a radical. Furthermore, many saw Hamilton as an extremist because
of his zealousness in advocating a strong national government.
By July of 1787, the delegates had divided themselves
into two camps. Members of the first faction favored the New Jersey
Plan to modify the existing Articles of Confederation, while those
in the second camp preferred the Virginia Plan, which was to create
a new national government altogether. Ironically, Hamilton's most
famous speech was a five-hour long tirade against the dangers of
the Virginia Plan–although he preferred it to the New Jersey one, Hamilton
felt that even this plan did not create a strong enough government.
