How did the merchants and wealthy landowners adapt to create a different kind of document after the disaster of the first articles of confederation? they met to talk about what type of government they wanted and how best to go about creating that republican government. they gathered all the representatives of each state into every meeting to discuss strategies. they went to george washington and thomas jefferson and asked them to lead them through the discussions. they just kept on trying, and, even though they failed often, they were eventually successful in creating the constitution.