The United States government under the Articles of Confederation was toothless and broke, unable to raise money, and with little to no international clout. Something had the change. And Shays' Rebellion in Massachusetts was the final straw. So James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and other advocates for a more robust federal government began taking steps that would result in a convention in Philadelphia in 1787 which hammered out a Constitution that still exists today as the most important state document of the United States of America.