Printed Page 206 Chapter Chronology
The United States Constitution
Why did the Constitution proposed by the Philadelphia convention devise multiple checks on the branches of the government?
Shays's Rebellion provoked an odd mixture of fear and hope that the government under the Articles of Confederation was losing its grip on power. A small circle of Virginians decided to try one last time to augment the powers granted to the government by the Articles. Their innocuous call for a meeting to discuss trade regulation led within a year to a total reworking of the national government, one with extensive powers and multiple branches based on differing constituencies.