Chapter in Perspective

The Constitution was intended to correct the flaws of the Articles of Confederation by strengthening the national government. Yet most Americans retained a strong suspicion of government power. Thus, launching the new government was filled with peril. The Revolution had strengthened the ideology of republicanism, but Americans with different political, social, and economic visions of the Republic's future interpreted republicanism differently. More particularly, an emerging market economy began both to rally one segment of Americans and to alienate another --foreshadowing the continuing link of economic growth to social condition and political opinion. This conflict, which was central to the struggle over ratification of the Constitution, intensified after 1789. And, when war resumed between Britain and France in this period, the United States found its rights and independence challenged. In sum, the first years under the Constitution represented a further working out of domestic and international problems that harked back to the Revolution and its meaning for the American people.