December 1794
Ever since Columbus came to my land, a few hundred years ago, I saw how the white people changed our living and shaped a new country, now called United States of America. A few years after the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, the United States Constitution that emerged from the convention established a federal government with more specific powers, including those related to conducting relations with foreign governments and debts and the conflict between the federalists and the anti-federalists. As a young nation, the United States had acquired a massive amount of debt during the Revolution. A severe depression affected the nation during 1784. The government was on the verge of going bankrupt and could only take out loans from countries such as France if they agreed to pay outrageous interest rates. In attempt to resolve such issues, as well as problems arising from the payment of debts and other domestic issues, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention created a model of government that relied upon a series of checks and balances by dividing federal authority between three branches of government: the Legislative, the Judicial, and the Executive. Under the reformed federal system, many of the responsibilities for foreign affairs fell under the authority of an executive branch, although important powers, such as treaty ratification, remained the responsibility of the legislative branch. The 13 founding states agreed and established the Articles of Confederation, which provided for a much stronger national government with a chief executive (the president), courts, and taxing powers.
-Haneekah
