George Mann's Tavern

Maryland Historical Society

The Annapolis Convention was a gathering of twelve representatives (see below) from five states at Annapolis, Maryland, between September 11 and 14, 1786. The group met to discuss interstate trade issues, but it also considered other political problems and the weaknesses of America's national government under the Articles of Confederation. The Annapolis Convention's final report called on the states to send delegates to Philadelphia in May 1787 to address those larger concerns. The Philadelphia meeting produced a new plan for national government: the Constitution of the United States.

Issues Leading to the Annapolis Convention
America's early national government was based on the Articles of Confederation, which had been adopted by Congress in 1777 but not accepted by all of the states until 1781. Since they were drawn up during the Revolutionary War by leaders who wanted to protect the rights of individuals and the powers of the separate states from tyranny, the Articles limited the authority of the new United States government. As a result, it was difficult for the government to pass effective laws, collect sufficient tax money, or require the states to work together for the good of the young nation. By the time the Annapolis Convention met, many Americans thought the national government was weak and ineffective.

Neighboring states Maryland and Virginia shared an interest in promoting westward expansion, regulating trade, and ensuring safe navigation on the Chesapeake Bay and its tributary rivers. A December 1784 meeting in Annapolis and another gathering in March 1785 at Mount Vernon, George Washington's Virginia home, enabled the two states to settle some of their differences in these areas. Encouraged by these conferences, Virginia's government invited all of the states to send delegates to Annapolis to discuss commercial issues concerning to the entire nation, and thus the Annapolis Convention was called.

State Representatives at the Annapolis Convention
The following state delegates arrived in Annapolis in early September 1786 and began holding informal discussions a few days before officially opening the conference at George Mann's Tavern on the eleventh:

Delaware
- John Dickinson (Chairman)
- Richard Bassett
- George Read
New York
- Egbert Benson
- Alexander Hamilton
New Jersey
- Abraham Clark
- William Churchill Houston
- James Schureman
Pennsylvania
- Tench Coxe
Virginia
- James Madison
- Edmund Randolph
- St. George Tucker

City Hotel

Maryland Historical Society

Eight other states, including Maryland, sent no one. The convention was poorly attended, and most delegations had been instructed to discuss only interstate commerce, though the New Jersey delegation had been given carte blanche. The members therefore decided to concentrate on making general recommendations for addressing national issues in the future instead of trying to solve particular problems themselves. With the help of James Madison and Edmund Randolph, Alexander Hamilton drafted a report that the other members discussed, edited, and approved before the Annapolis Convention ended on September 14. The report noted the delegates' opinion that the states' differences over trade matters would only be solved once the defects of the Articles of Confederation were fixed. It called on the states to send representatives "to meet at Philadelphia on the second Monday in May next, to take into consideration the situation of the United States, to devise such further provisions as shall render the constitution of the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union."

Congress backed the Annapolis Convention's report, and the Constitutional Convention assembled in Philadelphia in May 1787. The new Constitution it produced in September 1787 became the blueprint for the system under which Americans still govern themselves.

Baltz, Shirley V. A Closer Look at the Annapolis Convention, September 1786. Annapolis: Maryland State Archives, 1986.

Paynter, William K. A More Perfect Union: A Play About the Annapolis Convention.. Annapolis: Maryland State Archives, 1986.

Wright, Robert K., Jr. and Morris J. MacGregor, Jr. "The Annapolis Convention." Appendix A in Soldier-Statesmen of the Constitution. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1987. 265-68. 11 Aug 2000 http://www.army.mil/cmh pg/books/RevWar/ss/appa.htm.