The U.S. Constitution provides a stable rule of law and an economic framework that makes American business and finance possible.

Before 1767, most residents of the British American colonies drank smuggled Dutch tea rather than pay the high British tax on tea.

Independence from Great Britain brought the United States and its constituent states considerable debt.

The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union—a “league of friendship” among the former colonies—were adopted by the Second Continental Congress on November 15, 1777, and went into effect on March 1, 1781, following state ratification.

The representatives at the Annapolis Convention decided that the Articles of Confederation needed to be replaced and that a constitutional convention should be held to reinvent the federal government.