Held September 11-14, 1786, the Annapolis Convention was a meeting aimed at constructing uniform parameters to regulate trade between states during a time of political turbulence and economic strain. At this time, the government established by the Articles of Confederation did not regulate trade. Twelve delegates from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia met in Annapolis, Maryland to discuss these issues in hopes of reaching a solution. Other states expressed interest and appoint commissioners, but were not able to attend the meeting. While chartered as a purely commercial convening, the Annapolis Convention served as a stepping-stone to the Constitutional Convention, effectively laying the groundwork for the needs of a federal government and our nation’s constitutional formation.
Reasons for the Annapolis Convention
Although George Washington did not attend the Annapolis Convention himself, he set a critical precedent for its convening in hosting the Mount Vernon Convention of 1785. This meeting trade and navigational rights between Maryland and Virginia. George Washington lamented America’s “half-starved, limping government” with sadness as well as frustration, blaming the nation’s economic and political hardships on the “disinclination of the individual States to yield competent powers to Congress for the Federal Government.”1 It could then be said that, while not physically present at the Annapolis Convention, Washington played a pivotal role in its original conception as well as the realization of its most insightful, formative recommendations.
After the American Revolution, interstate trade barriers and disputes were common, with each state adhering to its own currency, debt, and regulatory strictures. Meanwhile, the Articles of Confederation proved an inadequate if not an entirely impotent political framework, unable to raise taxes or regulate trade. In such disrepair, the nation tumbled into deep economic recession in 1785, as reactive uprisings like the infamous Shays' Rebellion of 1786 became commonplace.2
The American Economy After The War
The Annapolis Convention
The Annapolis Convention commenced on September 11, 1786, in the senate chamber of the Maryland State House. The Convention’s attendees came to the collective realization that trade was altogether inseverable from the widespread “embarrassments” characterizing the then-present state of economic affairs.3 In order to address economic short comings, the delegates began to discuss commerce. With the expressed purpose to determine “how far an uniform system in [states’] commercial regulations may be necessary to their common interest. ”4 While constituting an admittedly “partial and defective” representation,5the delegates still stood as a highly competent group of men, comprised of a future President (James Madison), a future Secretary of the Treasury (Alexander Hamilton), and a future Secretary of State (Edmund Randolph).
Chaired by John Dickinson, the former governor of Delaware, the Convention’s members reasoned that questions of trade regulation were of “such a comprehensive extent” that the bounds set by their current meeting would not suffice.6 Commercial disputes among states, the delegates agreed, emblemized “important defects in the system of federal government.”
In a report authored by Alexander Hamilton, the Annapolis commissioners called for a Convention to meet at Philadelphia the following May, with the vocalized aim to “render the constitution of the federal government adequate to the exigencies of the union.”7 Articulating these sentiments in a report issued to all states and Confederation Congress, the Annapolis delegates recommended a convention be held in Philadelphia the following year. The Constitutional Convention was subsequently held from May to September 1787.
Impact of the Annapolis Convention
Upon leaving Annapolis, Virginia’s James Madison set out to persuade George Washington to attend the Philadelphia Convention. Reflecting on the Annapolis Convention, Washington seemed to take little stock in the delegates’ unanimity, regretting the fact that “only five States were represented—none East of New York.”8 Even if all states were to be represented in Philadelphia, Washington privately confessed to his aide-de-camp David Humphreys, there was “little prospect” for any unanimous, workable agreement.
Nevertheless, Madison remained firmly dedicated to the realization of a Constitutional Convention. In championing the Virginia Act of October 16, 1786, Madison authorized the appointment of Virginia delegates to Philadelphia in due time. Ultimately, the “uninterrupted progress” of the Virginia Act was evidence enough for Washington that Virginia’s attendance at the Constitutional Convention was not only a “favourable issue,” but also a measure of significant “necessity and magnitude.”9 The following May, George Washington led the Virginia delegation at the Constitutional Convention to discuss issues like the ones presented at the Annapolis Convention. The precedent of states working together solve problems unsolved by the Articles of Confederation led the way to discussions for a stronger, national government.
Cornelia Lluberes, updated by Zoie Horecny, Ph.D., 30 May 2025
Notes:
1. “From George Washington to Benjamin Harrison, 18 January 1784,” Founders Online, National Archives.
2. R. Gordon Hoxie, “The Presidency in the Constitutional Convention,” Presidential Studies Quarterly 15 (1985): 25.
3. John Dickinson, “Proceedings of the Commissioners to Remedy Defects of the Federal Government, Annapolis in the State of Maryland” (Annapolis, Maryland, September 14, 1786).
4. “Annapolis,” The Maryland Gazette, August 3, 1786, Newspapers Online.
5. John Dickinson, “Proceedings of the Commissioners” (1786).
6. John Dickinson, “Proceedings of the Commissioners” (1786).
7. John Dickinson, “Proceedings of the Commissioners” (1786).
8. “From George Washington to David Humphreys, 26 December 1786,” Founders Online, National Archives.
9. “From George Washington to James Madison, 18 November 1786,” Founders Online, National Archives.
Bibliography:
Browning, Andrew H. Rescuing the Republic: James Madison, the Annapolis Convention, and the Path to the Constitution. University Press of Kansas, 2025.
Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. New York: Penguin, 2004.
Ketcham, Ralph Louis and Ralph Ketcham. James Madison: A Biography. University of Virginia Press, 1990.
Ottenberg, Louis. “A Fortunate Fiasco: The Annapolis Convention of 1786,” American Bar Association Journal 45 (1959).
