In spite of all the good things that could be said about the country after the close of the War for Independence, all was not well. Many things troubled the people and brought them to the realization that a new Constitution was needed.

In 1786, it looked to many as if liberty would never be the permanent possession of those who so boldly declared it in 1776. Independence had brought a number of economic problems both within the country and in regard to citizens seeking to do business overseas. M. E. Bradford notes, "Furthermore, there were Indian insurgencies along a now open frontier, problems with foreign debt, problems with opportunistic internal tariffs interrupting interstate commerce, a large domestic debt, and a pattern of domestic insurrections coming to a head with Captain Daniel Shay's Rebellion in Massachusetts during the fall and winter of 1786-87."