Foreign trade and the emergence of American nationalism. (Volumes I and II)

After the Americans won their independence, they were disappointed to find that their economic freedom did not produce immediate prosperity. Foreign trade, always central to American material success, then became central to American economic problems. The Atlantic economy, dominated by great mercantile powers, especially Britain, exploited the American market. It was doubtful whether the Americans could survive economically as thirteen sovereign states.; The hope of the Americans lay in their efforts to negotiate commercial treaties with Britain and other nations. The Articles of Confederation gave Congress power to negotiate treaties, but it also gave the power to regulate foreign trade to the states. During the Confederation period, a great deal of energy was expended in attempts to overcome the frustrating division of power. Americans were willing to resolve this by vesting Congress with the power to regulate foreign trade, but those efforts failed when state legislatures attached unacceptable conditions, or were too slow to act.; When state legislatures enacted their own laws to regulate foreign trade, in the form of navigation acts, chaos resulted. A close examination of those laws shows that a severe conflict of interest among the states had to be resolved. Efforts to amend the Articles to give Congress the power to regulate trade were fruitless, because when the amending process was discussed, it was discovered that trade was only one of the many problems that should be resolved.; The chaos and discord in the country, and the uncertainty in the minds of the foreign administrators made it imperative that something be done. The Annapolis convention was the first attempt to meet to find some solution to the problem, but the motives of the Virginians who had initiated this meeting, were suspect. This meeting was so sparsely attended that the original purpose could not be accomplished. But the result was the Constitutional Convention of 1787 which finally corrected the division of power along with other matters. A national government was created in which resided not only the power to negotiate treaties, but also the power to enforce them. It seemed possible that the Americans would experience the economic prosperity which their freedom had promised.