United States Constitution
Many people think of the United States as a young country. Yet it has the oldest written constitution among the major nations of the world. Moreover, it was, for the first time in history, a constitution that specifically limited the powers that the federal government would be able to exercise over its citizens.
Soon after the 3 million people who lived in the United States had won the Revolutionary War, various groups among them became discontented with the Articles of Confederation (see Articles of Confederation). The government under the Confederation seemed too weak to control the people at home or to make the new republic respected abroad.
One difficulty was that Congress lacked sufficient power to raise money: it could only make requests of the states. It was always poor, while generous states such as New York and Pennsylvania complained that they paid more than their share. Congress also had no authority to regulate commerce. When some of the states began laying tariffs and other burdens on the shipping trade of their neighbors, it caused heavy losses.
All states were supposed to abide by the Articles of Confederation; yet some states violated them. They made treaties with the Indians and agreements with each other. They ignored foreign treaties made by Congress and regulated the value of money.