Episode Details

In this episode, we explore how the articles of confederation collapsed. Imagine fighting a brutal multi -year war to escape a global empire. You bleed for independence, you secure the victory, and you finally establish your own nation. Right, the ultimate underdog story. Exactly. But then within a few short years the new government you build is just it's so incredibly weak that they can't even afford to pay the soldiers who won the war Yeah, which is a terrifying position to be in and it gets worse The borders are completely porous foreign powers are actively harassing your shipping and get this Neighboring states within your own country are waging bitter economic trade wars against each other like their rival nations, right? And that wasn't some dystopian nightmare scenario. That was the actual daily reality for the United States in 1780s. So welcome to the deep dive. Glad to be here for this one. Today we are immersing ourselves in engines of mob rule, legislating away private property rights. I mean, you can see why they'd panic. The elite proposed that the Confederation Congress be given the power to intervene and prevent such populist economic laws. But as we know, Congress remained completely powerless. But not every state adopted these populist measures, right? Right. Some states held a hard line and that rigidness actually sparked the powder keg. Massachusetts is the prime example here. Massachusetts is the crucial turning point. The government of Massachusetts, heavily influenced by the wealthy mercantile class in Boston, absolutely refused to enact debtor relief laws. They refused to issue cheap paper money. Instead, they aggressively demanded that all state taxes and private debts be paid in hard currency. Which, as we established, the rural population simply did not have. So the farmers in the western part of Massachusetts were devastated. The local courts began seizing