The US in 1783

US Constitution – Background and Constitutional Convention, 1783-87

This course offers an in-depth exploration of the historical background to the US Constitution, up to and including the Constitutional Convention of 1787. In the first lecture, we consider the US in 1783, at the end of the War of Independence, focusing on the internal and external problems facing the country as a post-colonial state. We look in-depth at the Declaration of Independence and consider its implications as the ‘mission statement’ of the new United States. In the second lecture, we explore the strengths and weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation in enabling a form of proto-federal government. Then, in the third lecture, we explore in-depth the problems facing the United States under the Articles of Confederation and the movement to replace the Articles of Confederation with a more robust constitution. In the fourth lecture, we explore the key problems and compromises reached during the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia during the summer of 1787. This leads us to our fifth and final lecture, in which we consider the document of the Constitution itself.

The US in 1783

In this module, we consider the US at the end of the War of Independence, focusing in particular on: (i) the internal and external problems facing the country as a post-colonial state; (ii) the Declaration of Independence and its implications as the ‘mission statement’ of the new United States; (iii) the questions remained over how much authority "the people" could exercise in practice; (iv) the distinction between populist and elitist attitudes to the nature of political authority; (v) the US in historical context as a fragile power with a newly vast area of territory to govern.