with one another during the French and Indian wars, and during the
Revolution. This had served to encourage a feeling of comradeship
between the inhabitants of different communities. The population of
the country was doubling every twenty years, and groups previously
isolated were coming into contact with one another. Interstate
coöperation was not only more necessary than ever before, but it was
less difficult to bring about. Highways were being improved, and the
postal service gradually extended, with the result that a more
wholesome social life was made possible.

In an economic sense the American people were increasingly
interdependent. Especially on the frontier many communities were still
economically self-sufficing, but to an increasing extent the
development of commerce and manufacturing was everywhere calling for a
closer coöperation between various sections of the country. The
Annapolis Convention of 1786, indeed, was called for the purpose of
promoting commercial coöperation among the states. According to
Professor Beard, the formation of the Federal Constitution itself may
in large measure be traced to the desire throughout the country for
interstate coöperation in industry and commerce.

30. AMERICAN DEMOCRACY IN 1787.--The constitutional convention of 1787
expanded American democracy from a local idea to a political concept
of national proportions. But though this was an important step
forward, American democracy had not yet been fully developed.
Religious freedom, indeed, had been guaranteed by the Constitution,
but the suffrage was still narrowly restricted. The adoption of the
Constitution was due primarily to negative forces; the full
development of the positive forces, upon which the ultimate integrity
of the union rests, was to be delayed for almost a century. The states