Exam 7: Confederation and Constitution, 1783-1789

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The absence of a strong federal government made it difficult for Americans to secure their borders. Three groups-the English, the Spanish, and pirates-took advantage of this situation. ​ Although the United States had won its independence, Britain retained a few forts along the U.S.-Canadian border. They did this to protect their lucrative fur trade and to ensure the United States paid off its loans to British creditors. The United States badly wanted these forts removed but did not have the power to push them out. Again, the United States had no standing army and could not afford to maintain one. ​ From a foreign relations perspective, there were three problems with Spain: (1)the Treaty of Paris was unclear about who controlled a piece of land called the Yazoo Strip, which was the boundary between Spanish Florida and American Georgia; (2)the Spanish controlled the mouth of the Mississippi River and were able to close off this central access point to the American interior, should they ever wish to; and (3)the Americans wanted access to Spanish traders in the West Indies, but Spain was reluctant to allow this access because it did not want the United States to become dominant in the Western Hemisphere. ​ In the 1780s, American forces were also impotent in the face of Mediterranean pirates, who preyed on American trade ships in the Atlantic and the Caribbean. Without the capital to maintain a strong army or navy, the government under the Articles could do little to stop the marauding of American ships.