Before the Annapolis Convention

The Annapolis Convention is where the greats of old negotiated our current constitution.  To figure out why they decided they needed to change their system of government, let’s take a look at some events leading up to it.
Shay’s Rebellion

List of Greivances

Around 1787, the people of Massachusetts got tired of their current system of government.  What did they have to complain about?  The court was as far away as Boston (I guess they lived out in the country, and nobody had a car), they paid high taxes that didn’t benefit them, the people were starving, and they felt officials were paid too much. 

In an editorial to the government, an anonymous citizen noted:

so the people at large, when they view their present constitution as inadequate to the ends of civil government, have an undoubted power according to the declaration of the bill of rights, to alter or set aside the same, when the period comes, which they, the people, have fixed for that purpose ("To the Public")

No one was satisfied with the current conditions, and by right, they could set aside the current constitution.  The author of the editorial noted their grievances, but cautioned that they should revolt by peaceable means. 

The people wanted to set aside the court of common pleas because it was expensive.  The author explained that the corruption of people that made it expensive, and if they wanted to change the courts, they’d have to change the state’s laws, too, because they were tied together.  The author expressed the fear that if justice courts were set up, it would give magistrates more power, and people would bring frivolous suits to court, clogging up the system, and attorneys
would become more influential and would increase in numbers.

The people wanted a standard currency.  Anonymous explains that the people called for paper money issued by the government because their state’s paper money had lost value because of high internal debt and counterfeiting.

The people were also upset because the government was relatively expensive to run.  The author defended the government’s expenses, explaining that it was true that running the government was expensive, but only a small portion of taxes went towards running the government, the rest went to war debts.

This letter to the public arose at the rise of Shay’s rebellion.  Imagine a bunch of farmer gathering pitchforks and guns to fight against unjust conditions.  The elite and non-elite alike agreed that there was something wrong with governance of the country, but disagreed on how to handle it.  The elite thought a peaceable rebellion was in order; most likely, they advocated writing anonymous letters in the newspaper expressing their discontent.  The non-elite were incited to action after getting fed up, and used whatever tools that were available to them.