Chapter 7:
In the years immediately following the Revolution, Congress faced monumental challenges. Although it did successfully open the West in the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, its problems with paying and disbanding the Continental Army, the national debt, diplomatic and trade failures, and squabbles within and among the states all led many Americans to question its adequacy. Finally, in 1786, state delegates met in Philadelphia with the intention of revising the Articles. The result of the convention was the Constitution, developed from James Madison's Virginia Plan. The Constitution spelled out a balance between large states and small, state power and federal, as well as a balance of power at the federal level among three branches of government. Constructing the Constitution and getting it ratified by the states was not without conflict-chiefly between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists-but ultimately it was adopted.
