The Challenges Facing a Divided Nation in the 1780s, Essay Example

The newly-formed nation of the United States faced a number of significant challenges in the 1780s. Once the United States had succeeded in gaining independence in 1783, it was necessary to establish a new government. This process was built around the drafting of the U.S. Constitution, and it would be difficult to get the states to agree to the provisions in the document. Among the most significant concerns in the various states were the issues of representation in the new national government and of how much power this government would have over the states.

The Great Compromise determined how power and representation would be divided, with the states represented in the House based on their population, and each state would have two representatives in the Senate. Further disagreements occurred over the issue of slavery, and states in the South were allowed to count each slave in their population as 3/5ths of a person for the purposes of representation.  Issues of representation and slavery reflected the significant differences between states, and these differences would continue to fester for decades until they later exploded into the Civil War. What is most significant about the new U.S. government at the time was the way it was designed to address the differences between the states and allowed for compromises so the new nation could move forward.