Economic Interest behind the 1st Nationalist Movement: 1783

John Lovett ()
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John Lovett: Department of Economics, Texas Christian University

No 201006, Working Papers from Texas Christian University, Department of Economics

Abstract: There is a strong tradition of examining the economic motivation behind the drafting and ratification of the U.S. Constitution. The constitutional movement, however, was not the first attempt at a stronger central government. This paper investigates the economic and geographic interests behind the “first nationalist movement”, a 1783 drive to strengthen the Articles of Confederation that very nearly succeeded. A voting index, based on stated nationalist agenda, is constructed for delegates to the Congress. This index is regressed on state level data individual characteristics of each delegate. The results indicate that, despite this being period of relative unity (peace but not yet a peace treaty), much of nationalist support is explained by economic and geographic interests. Nationalist tend to be from populous states with few disputed land claims and little foreign trade. There is weaker evidence that state debt and being near the frontier made delegates more nationalist.

Keywords: US history; nationalist movement; constitution; articles of confederation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H10 N41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2010-10
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http://www.econ.tcu.edu/RePEc/tcu/wpaper/wp10-06.pdf First version, 2010 (application/pdf)

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