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{{Infobox document
|document_name={{nowrap|Articles of Confederation}}
|image=Articles page1.jpg
|image_caption=Page I of the Articles of Confederation
|date_created=November 15, 1777
|date_ratified=March 1, 1781
|location_of_document= [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]]
|writer=[[Continental Congress]]
|signers=Continental Congress
|purpose=Constitution for the United States, later replaced by the creation of the current [[United States Constitution]] in 1787
}}
[[File:Articlesofconfederation.jpg|thumb|220px|<center>Drafting Articles of Confederation</center><center>First issued in York, Penn., 1977</center>]]
[[File:Articlesofconfederation.jpg|thumb|220px|<center>Drafting Articles of Confederation</center><center>First issued in York, Penn., 1977</center>]]
The '''Articles of Confederation''' was the first [[constitution]] of the [[United States|United States of America]] and specified how the Federal government was to operate. The [[Second Continental Congress]] appointed a committee to draft the Articles in June 1776 and sent the draft to the states for ratification in November 1777.<ref name="Schwarz">[http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2006/1/2006_1_72.shtml Frederic D. Schwarz] "225 Years Ago," ''American Heritage'', February/March 2006.</ref> In practice, the Articles were in use beginning in 1777.  The ratification process was completed in March 1781. Under the Articles, the states retained sovereignty over all governmental functions not specifically relinquished to the national government.
The '''Articles of Confederation''' was the first [[constitution]] of the [[United States|United States of America]], describing the purpose and function of the federal government. The Articles were drafted by a committee appointed by the [[Second Continental Congress]] in June 1776, and the final draft was approved November 15, 1777 and sent to the states for ratification, a process that completed in March 1781. During this time, however, the Articles were the [[de facto]] system of government in use.  Once ratified by all thirteen states, on March 1, 1781, Congress became the [[Congress of the Confederation]].
 
On June 12, 1776, a day after appointing a committee to prepare a draft of the [[Declaration of Independence]], the Second Continental Congress resolved to appoint a committee of thirteen to prepare a draft of a constitution for a confederate type of union. The last draft of the Articles was written in the summer of 1777 and the Second Continental Congress approved them for ratification by the States on November 15, 1777, after a year of debate. In practice, the final draft of the Articles served as the [[de facto]] system of government used by the Congress ("the United States in Congress assembled") until it became [[de jure]] by final ratification on March 1, 1781; at which point Congress became the [[Congress of the Confederation]]. The ''Articles'' set the rules for operations of the United States government. It was capable of making war, negotiating diplomatic agreements, and resolving issues regarding the western territories. Article XIII stipulated that "their provisions shall be inviolably observed by every state" and "[[perpetual Union|the Union shall be perpetual]]".
 
The Articles were created by the representatives of the states in the Second Continental Congress out of a perceived need to have "a plan of confederacy for securing the freedom, sovereignty, and independence of the United States." Nationalists felt that the Articles lacked the necessary requirements for an effective government.There was no tax base, no executive agencies or judiciary. There was no tax base which meant no way to pay off state and national debts from the war years.  In 1788, with the approval of Congress, the Articles were replaced by the [[United States Constitution]] and the new government began operations in 1789.<ref>Richard Morris, ''The Forging of the Union, 1781-1789'' (1988), pp. 245-66</ref>
 
==Background==
The political push for the colonies to increase cooperation began with the [[Albany Congress]] in 1754 when [[Benjamin Franklin]] proposed an intercolonial collaboration that resembled the Articles.  Starting in 1775, the [[Second Continental Congress]] acted as the [[provisional government|provisional national government]] that ran the [[American Revolutionary War]]. It was an era of constitution writing—most states were busy at the task—and leaders felt the new nation must have a written constitution, even though they were uncommon in other nations. Meanwhile, Congress exercised an unprecedented level of political, diplomatic, military, and economic authority over the colonies.  It adopted commercial codes, established and maintained an army and selected its generals, issued money, created a military code of law, defined crimes, and negotiated with foreign governments<ref>Gordon S. Wood, ''The Creation of the American Republic: 1776-1787 (1969), pp.354-55</ref>
 
==Ratification==
Congress began to move for ratification of the Articles of Confederation in 1777:
<blockquote>
"Permit us, then, earnestly to recommend these articles to the immediate and dispassionate attention of the legislatures of the respective states. Let them be candidly reviewed under a sense of the difficulty of combining in one general system the various sentiments and interests of a continent divided into so many sovereign and independent communities, under a conviction of the absolute necessity of uniting all our councils and all our strength, to maintain and defend our common liberties...''<ref name=ratificationletter>[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(jc00941)) Monday, November 17, 1777], Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789. [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lawhome.html A Century of Lawmaking, 1774-1873]</ref>
</blockquote>
 
The document could not become officially effective until it was [[Ratification|ratified]] by all thirteen colonies. The first state to ratify was [[Virginia]] on December 16, 1777.<ref>{{cite web
  |url=http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/ar/91719.htm
  |title=Articles of Confederation, 1777-1781
  |publisher=[[U.S. Department of State]]
  |accessdate=2008-01-26
}}</ref> The process dragged on for several years, stalled by the refusal of some states to rescind their claims to land in the West. [[Maryland]] was the last holdout; it refused to go along until [[Virginia]] and New York agreed to cede their claims in the [[Ohio River]] Valley. A little over three years passed before Maryland's ratification on March 1, 1781.
 
==Article summaries==
Even though the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution were established by many of the same people, the two documents are very different. The original five-page Articles contained a preamble, thirteen articles, a conclusion, and a signatory section.
The preamble states that the signatory states "agree to certain articles of Confederation and perpetual Union" between the 13 states (the former British colonies).
The following list contains short summaries of each of the thirteen articles.
#Establishes the name of the confederation with these words: "The Style of this confederacy shall be "The United States of America."
#Asserts the equality of the separate states with the confederation government, i.e. "Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated."
#Does not call the United States a "nation", but instead says: "The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever."
#Establishes [[freedom of movement]] – anyone could pass freely between the states, excluding "[[pauper]]s, [[vagabond (person)|vagabonds]], and [[fugitive]]s from justice." All people are entitled to the rights established by the state into which he travels. If a crime is committed in one state and the perpetrator flees to another state, he will be [[extradition|extradited]] to and tried in the state in which the crime was committed.
#Allocates one vote in the [[Congress of the Confederation]] (the "United States in Congress Assembled") to each state, which was entitled to a delegation of between two and seven members. Members of Congress were appointed by state legislatures. Also, individuals could not serve more than three out of any six years.
#Only the central government was allowed to conduct [[diplomacy|foreign relations]] and to [[declaration of war|declare war]]. No states could have navies or standing armies, or engage in war, without permission of Congress (although the existence of state [[militia]]s are encouraged).
#Whenever an army is raised for common defense, [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]]s and [[military rank]]s below colonel will be named by the state legislatures.
#Expenditures by the United States will be paid by funds raised by state legislatures, and apportioned to the states based on the real property values of each.
#Defines the powers of the central government: to declare war, to set weights and measures (including coins), and for Congress to serve as a final court for disputes between states.
#Defines a [[Committee of the States]] to be a government when Congress is not in session.
#Requires nine states to approve the admission of a new state into the confederacy. It pre-approved  [[Province of Quebec (1763–1791)|eastern Canada]], if it had applied for membership.
#Reaffirms that the Confederation accepts war debt incurred by Congress before the existence of the  Articles.
#Declares that the Articles are perpetual, and can only be altered by approval of Congress with ratification by all the state legislatures.
 
While still at war with [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]], the Founding Fathers were divided between those seeking a powerful, centralized national government, and those seeking a loosely-structured one. Jealously guarding their new independence, members of the Continental Congress arrived at a compromise solution dividing sovereignty between the states and the Federal government, with a [[unicameral]] legislature that protected the liberty of the individual states. While calling on Congress to regulate military and monetary affairs, for example, the Articles of Confederation provided no mechanism with which to compel the States to comply with requests for either troops or revenue. At times, this left the military in a precarious position, as [[George Washington]] wrote in a letter in 1781 to the Governor of [[Massachusetts]], [[John Hancock]].
 
==The end of the Revolutionary War==
The [[Treaty of Paris (1783)]], which ended hostilities with Great Britain, languished in Congress for months because several state representatives failed to attend sessions of the national legislature to ratify it. Yet Congress had no power to enforce attendance. Writing to [[George Clinton (vice president)|George Clinton]] in September 1783, George Washington complained:
 
:''Congress have come to no determination ''yet'' respecting the Peace Establishment nor am I able to say when they will. I have lately had a conference with a Committee on this subject, and have reiterated my former opinions, but it appears to me that there is not a sufficient representation to discuss ''Great'' National points.''<ref name=washingtonclinton>[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw270170)) Letter George Washington to George Clinton], September 11, 1783. [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml/gwhome.html The George Washington Papers, 1741-1799]</ref>
 
==Function==
===The Army and Navy===
The Articles supported the Congressional direction of the [[Continental Army]], and allowed the 13 states to present a unified front when dealing with the European powers. As a tool to build a centralized war-making government, they were largely a failure: Historian Bruce Chadwick wrote:
 
{{quote|George Washington had been one of the very first proponents of a strong federal government. The army had nearly disbanded on several occasions during the winters of the war because of the weaknesses of the Continental Congress. ... The delegates could not draft soldiers and had to send requests for regular troops and militia to the states. Congress had the right to order the production and purchase of provisions for the soldiers, but could not force anyone to supply them, and the army nearly starved in several winters of war.<ref>Chadwick p. 469. Phelps pp. 165-166. Phelps wrote:
:"It is hardly surprising, given their painful confrontations with a weak central government and the sovereign states, that the former generals of the Revolution as well as countless lesser officers strongly supported the creation of a more muscular union in the 1780s and fought hard for the ratification of the Constitution in 1787. Their wartime experiences had nationalized them."</ref>}}
 
The Continental Congress, before the Articles were approved, had promised soldiers a pension of half pay for life.  However Congress had no power to compel the states to fund this obligation, and as the war wound down after the victory at Yorktown the sense of urgency to support the military was no longer a factor. No progress was made in Congress during the winter of 1783 - 84. General Henry Knox, who would later become the first [[Secretary of War]] under the Constitution, blamed the weaknesses of the Articles for the inability of the government to fund the army. The army had long been supportive of a strong union.<ref>Puls pp. 174-176</ref> Knox wrote:
 
{{quote|The army generally have always reprobated the idea of being thirteen armies. Their ardent desires have been to be one continental body looking up to one sovereign. ... It is a favorite toast in the army, "A hoop to the barrel" or "Cement to the Union".<ref name="Puls p. 177">Puls p. 177</ref>}}
 
As Congress failed to act on the petitions, Knox wrote to Gouverneur Morris, four years before the Philadelphia Convention was convened, "As the present Constitution is so defective, why do not you great men call the people together and tell them so; that is, to have a convention of the States to form a better Constitution."<ref name="Puls p. 177" />
 
Once the war had been won, the [[Continental Army]] was largely disbanded. A very small national force was maintained to man the frontier forts and to protect against [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] attacks. Meanwhile, each of the states had an army (or militia), and 11 of them had Navies. The wartime promises of bounties and land grants to be paid for service were not being met. In 1783, [[George Washington]] defused the [[Newburgh conspiracy]], but riots by unpaid [[Pennsylvania]] veterans forced Congress to leave Philadelphia temporarily.<ref>{{cite book
  |url=http://www.fullbooks.com/George-Washington-Vol-I4.html
  |title=George Washington, Vol. I
  |author=Henry Cabot Lodge
  |publisher=
  |volume=I
}}</ref>
 
The Congress from time to time during the Revolutionary War requisitioned troops from the states. Any contributions were voluntary, and in the debates of 1788 the Federalists (who supported the proposed new Constitution) claimed that state politicians acted unilaterally, and contributed when the Continental army protected their state's interests. The Anti-Federalists claimed that state politicians understood their duty to the Union and contributed to advance its needs. Dougherty (2009) concludes that generally the States' behavior validated the Federalist analysis. This helps explain why the Articles of Confederation needed reforms.<ref>Keith L. Dougherty, "An Empirical Test of Federalist and Anti-Federalist Theories of State Contributions, 1775-1783," ''Social Science History'', Spring 2009, Vol. 33 Issue 1, pp 47-74,</ref>
 
===Foreign policy===
Even after peace had been achieved in 1783, the weakness of the Confederation government frustrated the ability of the government to conduct foreign policy. In 1786, [[Thomas Jefferson]], concerned over the failure to fund an American naval force to confront the [[Barbary Coast|Barbary pirates]], wrote to [[James Monroe]], "It will be said there is no money in the treasury. There never will be money in the treasury till the Confederacy shows its teeth. The states must see the rod.” <ref>Ellis 92</ref>
 
Also, the [[Jay-Gardoqui Treaty]] with [[Spain]] in 1786 also showed weakness in foreign policy. In this treaty - which was never ratified due to its immense unpopularity - the United States was to give up rights to use the [[Mississippi River]] for 30 years, which would have economically strangled the settlers west of the [[Appalachian Mountains]]. Finally, due to the Confederation's military weakness, it could not compel the [[British army]] to leave frontier forts which were on American soil - forts which the British promised to leave in 1783. This violation of the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)]] was corrected by [[Jay's Treaty]] in 1795 under the new [[U.S. Constitution]].
 
===Taxation and commerce===
{{Expand|section|date=July 2010}}
Under the Articles of confederation, the Confederation Congress could make decisions, but it had no power to enforce any of them. This was important because this made it so that the union had no liable source of income.  There was a requirement for unanimous approval before any modifications could be made to the Articles. Because the majority of law-making authority rested with the states, the central government was kept quite limited.
 
Congress had been denied any powers of [[taxation]]: it could only request money from the states. The states did not generally comply with the requests in full, leaving both Congress and the Continental Army chronically short of money. As more money was printed by Congress, the continental dollars depreciated. In 1779, George Washington wrote to [[John Jay]], who was serving as the president of the Continental Congress, "that a wagon load of money will scarcely purchase a wagon load of provisions."<ref>Stahr p. 105</ref> Mr. Jay and the Congress responded in May by requesting $45 million from the States. In an appeal to the States to comply, Jay wrote that the taxes were "the price of liberty, the peace, and the safety of yourselves and posterity."<ref>Stahr p. 107</ref> He argued that Americans should avoid having it said "that America had no sooner become independent than she became insolvent" or that "her infant glories and growing fame were obscured and tarnished by broken contracts and violated faith."<ref>Stahr pp. 107-108</ref> The States did not respond with any of the money requested from them.
 
Congress had also been denied the power to regulate either foreign trade or [[interstate commerce]], and as a result, all of the States maintained control over their own trade policies as well. The States and the Confederation Congress had both incurred debts during the Revolutionary War, and how to repay those debts became a major issue of debate following the War. Some States paid off their war debts. However, the Federalists favored the Federal assumption of the States' war debts, while their opponents opposed it.
 
===Accomplishments of the Confederation===
Nevertheless, the Confederation Congress did take two actions with longlasting impact. The [[Land Ordinance of 1785]] and [[Northwest Ordinance]] created territorial government, set up protocols for the admission of new states, the division of land into useful units, and set aside land in each township for public use.  This system represented a sharp break from imperial colonization, as in Europe, and provided the basis for the rest of American continental expansion through the 19th Century.
 
The [[Land Ordinance of 1785]] established both the general practices of land surveying in the west and northwest and the land ownership provisions used throughout the later westward expansion beyond the [[Mississippi River]]. The [[Northwest Ordinance]] of 1787 noted the agreement of the original states to give up [[state cessions|northwestern land claims]], organized the [[Northwest Territory]] and thus cleared the way for the entry of five new states, and part of the sixth to the Union. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 also made great advances in the abolition of slavery. New states admitted to the union in said territory would never be slave states.
 
To be specific, these states gave up all of their claims to land north of the [[Ohio River]] and west of the (present) western border of Pennsylvania: [[Massachusetts]], [[Connecticut]], [[New York]], [[Pennsylvania]], and [[Virginia]]. From this land, over several decades were formed the new states of [[Ohio]], [[Indiana]], [[Illinois]], [[Michigan]], and [[Wisconsin]], and the part of [[Minnesota]] east of the Mississippi River.
 
By the Land Ordinance of 1785, these were surveyed into the now-familiar squares of land called the [[township]] (36 [[square mile]]s), the [[Section (United States land surveying)|section]] (one square mile), and the quarter section (160 [[acre]]s. This system was carried forward to most of the States west of the Mississippi (excluding areas of [[Texas]] and [[California]] that had already been surveyed and divided up by the [[Spanish Empire]]). Then, when the [[Homestead Act]] was enacted in 1867, the quarter section became the basic unit of land that was granted to new settler-farmers.
 
==America under the Articles==
The peace treaty left the United States independent and at peace but with an unsettled governmental structure.  The Articles envisioned  a permanent confederation, but granted to the Congress&mdash;the only federal institution&mdash;little power to finance itself or to ensure that its resolutions were enforced.  There was no president and no national court. The Articles of Confederation were weak and did not give a strong political or economic base for the newly formed nation.<ref>Richard Morris, ''The Forging of the Union, 1781-1789'' (1988), is the standard scholarly history</ref>
 
Although historians generally agree that the Articles were too weak to hold the fast-growing nation together, they do give credit to the settlement of the western issue, as the states voluntarily turned over their lands to national control.
 
By 1783, with the end of the British blockade, the new nation was regaining its prosperity. However, trade opportunities were restricted by the mercantilism of the British and French empires. The ports of the British West Indies were closed to all staple products which were not carried in British ships. France and Spain established similar policies.  Simultaneously, new manufacturers faced sharp competition from British products which were suddenly available again.  Political unrest in several states and efforts by debtors to use popular government to erase their debts increased the anxiety of the political and economic elites which had led the Revolution.  The apparent inability of the Congress to redeem the public obligations (debts) incurred during the war, or to become a forum for productive cooperation among the states to encourage commerce and economic development, only aggravated a gloomy situation.  In 1786-87 the [[Shay's Rebellion]], an uprising of farmers in western Massachusetts against the state court system, threatened the stability of state government.
 
The Continental Congress printed paper money which was so depreciated that it ceased to pass as currency, spawning the expression "not worth a continental".  Congress could not levy taxes and could only make requisitions upon the States.  Less than a million and a half dollars came into the treasury between 1781 and 1784, although the governors had been asked for two million in 1783 alone.
 
When Adams went to London in 1785 as the first representative of the United States, he found it impossible to secure a treaty for unrestricted commerce.  Demands were made for favors and there was no assurance that individual states would agree to a treaty.  Adams stated it was necessary for the States to confer the power of passing navigation laws to Congress, or that the States themselves pass retaliatory acts against Great Britain.  Congress had already requested and failed to get power over navigation laws.  Meanwhile, each State acted individually against Great Britain to little effect.  When other New England states closed their ports to British shipping, Connecticut hastened to profit by opening its ports.


By 1787 Congress was unable to protect manufacturing and shipping.  State legislatures were unable or unwilling to resists attacks upon private contracts and public credit.  Land speculators expected no rise in values when the government could not defend its borders nor protect its frontier population.<ref>Jack N. Rakove, "The Collapse of the Articles of Confederation," in ''The American Founding: Essays on the Formation of the Constitution'' ed. by J. Jackson Barlow, Leonard W. Levy and Ken Masugi (1988) pp 225–45</ref>
The Articles established rules for the operation of the federal government, giving it the power to make war, engage in diplomacy, and handle issues in the western territories. Under the Articles, the states retained all powers not granted to the national government.


The idea of a convention to revise the Articles of Confederation grew in favor.  [[Alexander Hamilton]] realized while serving as Washington's top aide that a strong central government was necessary to avoid foreign intervention and allay the frustrations due to an ineffectual Congress. Hamilton led a group of like-minded nationalists, won Washington's endorsement, and convened the [[Annapolis Convention (1786)|Annapolis Convention]] in 1786 to petition Congress to call a constitutional convention to meet in Philadelphia to remedy the long-term crisis.<ref>Ron Chernow, ''Alexander Hamilton'' (2004)</ref>
The representatives in the Second Continental Congress felt a need for a confederacy that would secure the independence of the United States while in the midst of the [[American War of Independence]].  However, Nationalists argued that the Articles were inadequate because they did not grant the federal government a taxing power, nor did they create executive or judicial powers.  The Nationalists prevailed in the writing of the [[United States Constitution]] in 1787, and succeeded in gaining its ratification by 1788.


==Signatures==
==Signatures==
The Second Continental Congress approved the Articles for distribution to the states on November 15, 1777. A copy was made for each state and one was kept by the [[Continental Congress|Congress]]. The copies sent to the states for ratification were unsigned, and a cover letter had only the signatures of [[Henry Laurens]] and [[Charles Thomson]], who were the [[President of the Continental Congress|President]] and Secretary to the Congress.
Before the Articles of Confederation went into effect, the delegations of all states were required to sign it.
 
The ''Articles'', however, were unsigned, and the date was blank. Congress began the signing process by examining their copy of the ''Articles'' on June 27, 1778. They ordered a final copy prepared (the one in the National Archives), and that delegates should inform the secretary of their authority for ratification.
 
On July 9, 1778, the prepared copy was ready. They dated it, and began to sign. They also requested each of the remaining states to notify its delegation when ratification was completed. On that date, delegates present from [[New Hampshire]], [[Massachusetts]], [[Rhode Island]], [[Connecticut]], [[New York]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[Virginia]] and [[South Carolina]] signed the Articles to indicate that their states had ratified. [[New Jersey]], [[Delaware]] and [[Maryland]] could not, since their states had not ratified. [[North Carolina]] and [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] also didn't sign that day, since their delegations were absent.
 
After the first signing, some delegates signed at the next meeting they attended. For example, John Wentworth of New Hampshire added his name on August 8. John Penn was the first of North Carolina's delegates to arrive (on July 10), and the delegation signed the ''Articles'' on July 21, 1778.
 
The other states had to wait until they ratified the ''Articles'' and notified their Congressional delegation. Georgia signed on July 24, New Jersey on November 26, and Delaware on February 12, 1779. Maryland refused to ratify the ''Articles'' until every state had ceded its western land claims.
 
[[Image:Act_of_Maryland_to_ratify_Articles.jpg|thumb|253px|left|The Act of the Maryland legislature to ratify the Articles of Confederation on February 2, 1781]]
On February 2, 1781, the much-awaited decision was taken by the [[Maryland General Assembly]] in [[Annapolis]].<ref name=lawsofmaryland>[http://aomol.net/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000203/html/am203--265.html Friday, February 2, 1781], Laws of Maryland, 1781. [http://aomol.net/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000203/html/am203--265.html An ACT to empower the delegates]</ref> As the last piece of business during the afternoon Session, "among engrossed Bills" was "signed and sealed by Governor [[Thomas Sim Lee]] in the Senate Chamber, in the presence of the members of both Houses... an Act to empower the delegates of this state in Congress to subscribe and ratify the articles of confederation" and perpetual union among the states. The Senate then adjourned "to the first Monday in August next." The decision of Maryland to ratify the Articles was reported to the Continental Congress on February 12. The formal signing of the ''Articles'' by the Maryland delegates took place in Philadelphia at noon time on March 1, 1781 and was celebrated in the afternoon. With these events, the Articles entered into force and the United States came into being as a united, sovereign and national state.
 
Congress had debated the ''Articles'' for over a year and a half, and the ratification process had taken nearly three and a half years. Many participants in the original debates were no longer delegates, and some of the signers had only recently arrived. The ''Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union'' were signed by a group of men who were never present in the Congress at the same time.
 
The signers and the states they represented were:
*[[New Hampshire]]: [[Josiah Bartlett]] and [[John Wentworth Jr.]]
*[[Massachusetts|Massachusetts Bay]]: [[John Hancock]], [[Samuel Adams]], [[Elbridge Gerry]], [[Francis Dana]], [[James Lovell (delegate)|James Lovell]], and [[Samuel Holten]]
*[[Rhode Island|Rhode Island and Providence Plantations]]: [[William Ellery]], [[Henry Marchant]], and [[John Collins (delegate)|John Collins]]
*[[Connecticut]]: [[Roger Sherman]], [[Samuel Huntington (statesman)|Samuel Huntington]], [[Oliver Wolcott]], [[Titus Hosmer]], and [[Andrew Adams (congressman)|Andrew Adams]]
*[[New York State|New York]]: [[James Duane]], [[Francis Lewis]], [[William Duer (delegate)|William Duer]], and [[Gouverneur Morris]]
*[[New Jersey]]: [[John Witherspoon]] and [[Nathaniel Scudder]]
*[[Pennsylvania]]: [[Robert Morris (merchant)|Robert Morris]], [[Daniel Roberdeau]], [[Jonathan Bayard Smith]], [[William Clingan]], and [[Joseph Reed (jurist)|Joseph Reed]]
*[[Delaware]]: [[Thomas McKean]], [[John Dickinson (delegate)|John Dickinson]], and [[Nicholas Van Dyke (governor)|Nicholas Van Dyke]]
*[[Maryland]]: [[John Hanson]] and [[Daniel Carroll]]
*[[Virginia]]: [[Richard Henry Lee]], [[John Banister (lawyer)|John Banister]], [[Thomas Adams (politician)|Thomas Adams]], [[John Harvie]], and [[Francis Lightfoot Lee]]
*[[North Carolina]]: [[John Penn (delegate)|John Penn]], [[Cornelius Harnett]], and [[John Williams (delegate)|John Williams]]
*[[South Carolina]]: [[Henry Laurens]], [[William Henry Drayton]], [[John Mathews (lawyer)|John Mathews]], [[Richard Hutson]], and [[Thomas Heyward Jr.]]
*[[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]: [[John Walton (1738–1783)|John Walton]], [[Edward Telfair]], and [[Edward Langworthy]]
 
Roger Sherman (Connecticut) was the only person to sign all four great state papers of the United States: the [[Continental Association]], the [[United States Declaration of Independence]], the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution.
 
Robert Morris (Pennsylvania) was the only person besides Sherman to sign three of the great state papers of the United States: the [[United States Declaration of Independence]], the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution.
 
John Dickinson (Delaware), Daniel Carroll (Maryland) and Gouverneur Morris (New York), along with Sherman and Robert Morris, were the only five people to sign both the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution (Gouverneur Morris represented Pennsylvania when signing the Constitution).
 
==Presidents of the Congress==
The following list is of those who led the [[Congress of the Confederation]] under the ''Articles of Confederation'' as the [[President of the United States in Congress Assembled|Presidents of the United States in Congress Assembled]]. Under the Articles, the president was the presiding officer of Congress, chaired the Cabinet (the Committee of the States) when Congress was in recess, and performed other administrative functions. He was not, however, an executive in the way the successor [[President of the United States]] is a chief executive, since all of the functions he executed were under the direct control of Congress.<ref> Merrill Jensen, ''The Articles of Confederation: An Interpretation of the Social-Constitutional History of the American Revolution, 1774–1781'' (1959) pp 178–179</ref>
 
*[[Samuel Huntington (statesman)|Samuel Huntington]] (March 1, 1781– July 9, 1781)
*[[Thomas McKean]] (July 10, 1781–November 4, 1781)
*[[John Hanson]] (November 5, 1781– November 3, 1782)
*[[Elias Boudinot]] (November 4, 1782– November 2, 1783)
*[[Thomas Mifflin]] (November 3, 1783– October 31, 1784)
*[[Richard Henry Lee]] (November 30, 1784– November 6, 1785)
*[[John Hancock]] (November 23, 1785– May 29, 1786)
*[[Nathaniel Gorham]] (June 6, 1786– November 5, 1786)
*[[Arthur St. Clair]] (February 2, 1787– November 4, 1787)
*[[Cyrus Griffin]] (January 22, 1788– November 2, 1788)
''For a full list of Presidents of the Congress Assembled and Presidents under the two Continental Congresses before the Articles, see [[President of the Continental Congress]].''
 
==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Articles page1.jpg|Articles of Confederation, page 1
Image:Articles page2.jpg|Articles of Confederation, page 2
Image:Articles page3.jpg|Articles of Confederation, page 3
Image:Articles page4.jpg|Articles of Confederation, page 4
Image:Articles page5.jpg|Articles of Confederation, page 5
</gallery>
 
==Revision and replacement==
In May 1786, [[Charles Pinckney (governor)|Charles Pinckney]] of [[South Carolina]] proposed that Congress revise the Articles of Confederation. Recommended changes included granting [[United States Congress|Congress]] power over foreign and domestic commerce, and providing means for Congress to collect money from state treasuries. Unanimous approval was necessary to make the alterations, however, and Congress failed to reach a consensus. The weakness of the Articles in establishing an effective unifying government was underscored by the threat of internal conflict both within and between the states, especially after [[Shays' Rebellion]] threatened to topple the state government of Massachusetts.
 
On January 21, 1786, the Virginia Legislature, following [[James Madison|James Madison's]] recommendation, invited all the states to send delegates to Annapolis, Maryland to discuss ways to reduce these interstate conflicts. At what came to be known as the [[Annapolis Convention (1786)|Annapolis Convention]], the few state delegates in attendance endorsed a motion that called for all states to meet in [[Philadelphia]] in May, 1787 to discuss ways to improve the Articles of Confederation in a "Grand Convention." Although the states' representatives to the [[Constitutional Convention (United States)|Constitutional Convention]] in Philadelphia were only authorized to amend the Articles, the representatives held secret, closed-door sessions and wrote a new constitution. The new Constitution gave much more power to the central government, but characterization of the result is disputed. The general goal of the authors was to get as close to a [[republic]] as defined by the philosophers of the [[Age of Enlightenment]], while trying to address the many difficulties of the interstate relationships. Historian Forrest McDonald, using the ideas of James Madison from ''Federalist 39'', describes the change this way:
 
{{quote|The constitutional reallocation of powers created a new form of government, unprecedented under the sun. Every previous national authority either had been centralized or else had been a confederation of sovereign states. The new American system was neither one nor the other; it was a mixture of both.<ref>McDonald pg. 276</ref>}}
 
When approached after leaving the close of the [[Federal Convention]], Benjamin Franklin was asked a question. This is the conversation as has been recorded,
 
<blockquote>
The lady asked "Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?"
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“A Republic, if you can keep it.” was the response of Benjamin Franklin.
</blockquote>
 
Historian Ralph Ketcham comments on the opinions of [[Patrick Henry]], [[George Mason]], and other [[Anti-Federalism|antifederalists]] who were not so eager to give up the local autonomy won by the revolution:
 
{{quote|Antifederalists feared what Patrick Henry termed the "consolidated government" proposed by the new Constitution. They saw in Federalist hopes for commercial growth and international prestige only the lust of ambitious men for a "splendid empire" that, in the time-honored way of empires, would oppress the people with taxes, conscription, and military campaigns. Uncertain that any government over so vast a domain as the United States could be controlled by the people, Antifederalists saw in the enlarged powers of the general government only the familiar threats to the rights and liberties of the people.<ref>Ralph Ketcham, [http://books.google.com/books?id=QlDPAtJXQu0C&pg=PA381&lpg=PA381&dq=ralph+ketcham+%22anti+federalist%22&source=web&ots=BQZCnGjA9c&sig=rVp_ZBF9cEFFN8R5yJsW2xTMyf0#PPA381,M1 Roots of the Republic: American Founding Documents Interpreted, pg. 383]</ref>}}
 
According to their own terms for modification (Article XIII), the Articles would still have been in effect until 1790, the year in which the last of the 13 states ratified the new Constitution. The Congress under the Articles continued to sit until November 1788,<ref>{{cite web
  |url=http://libertariannation.org/a/f11e1.html#3
  |title=The Articles of Confederation
  |last=Emory
  |first=Bobby
  |publisher=Libertarian Nation Foundation
  |year=1993
  |accessdate=2008-01-26
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
  |url=http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel04.html
  |title=Religion and the Congress of the Confederation, 1774-89 (Religion and the Founding of the American Republic, Library of Congress Exhibition)
  |date=2003-10-27
  |publisher=Library of Congress
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
  |url=http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/360.html#360.2
  |title=Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional Convention
  |publisher=U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/continental/constit.html |title=Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789 - To Form a More Perfect Union: The Work of the Continental Congress & the Constitutional Convention (American Memory from the Library of Congress) |publisher=Memory.loc.gov |date= |accessdate=2010-03-17}}</ref> overseeing the adoption of the new Constitution by the states, and setting elections. By that date, 11 of the 13 states had ratified the new Constitution.


Historians have given many reasons for the perceived need to replace the articles in 1787. Jillson and Wilson (1994) point to the financial weakness as well as the norms, rules and institutional structures of the Congress, and the propensity to divide along sectional lines.
{|class="prettytable"
 
|-
Rakove (1988) identifies several factors that explain the collapse of the Confederation. The lack of compulsory direct taxation power was objectionable to those wanting a strong centralized state or expecting to benefit from such power. It could not collect customs after the war because tariffs were vetoed by [[Rhode Island]]. Rakove concludes that their failure to implement national measures "stemmed not from a heady sense of independence but rather from the enormous difficulties that all the states encountered in collecting taxes, mustering men, and gathering supplies from a war-weary populace."<ref>Rakove 1988 p. 230</ref> The second group of factors Rakove identified derived from the substantive nature of the problems the Continental Congress confronted after 1783, especially the inability to create a strong foreign policy. Finally, the Confederation's lack of coercive power reduced the likelihood for profit to be made by political means, thus potential rulers were uninspired to seek power.
!State!!Date signed!!Signers
 
|-
When the war ended in 1783, certain special interests had incentives to create a new "merchant state," much like the British state people had rebelled against. In particular, holders of war scrip and land speculators wanted a central government to pay off scrip at face value and to legalize western land holdings with disputed claims. Also, manufacturers wanted a high tariff as a barrier to foreign goods, but competition among states made this impossible without a central government.<ref>Hendrickson p. 154</ref>
|[[New Hampshire]]||July 9, 1778||[[Josiah Bartlett]], [[John Wentworth Jr.]]
 
|-
Political scientist David C. Hendrickson writes that two prominent political leaders in the Confederation, [[John Jay]] of New York and [[Thomas Burke (governor)|Thomas Burke]] of North Carolina believed that "the authority of the congress rested on the prior acts of the several states, to which the states gave their voluntary consent, and until those obligations were fulfilled, neither nullification of the authority of congress, exercising its due powers, nor secession from the compact itself was consistent with the terms of their original pledges."<ref>Hendrickson p. 153-154</ref>
|[[Massachusetts|Massachusetts Bay]]||July 9, 1778||[[John Hancock]], [[Samuel Adams]], [[Elbridge Gerry]], [[Francis Dana]], [[James Lovell]], [[Samuel Holten]]
 
|-
==See also==
|[[Rhode Island|Rhode Island and Providence Plantations]]||July 9, 1778||[[William Ellery]], [[Henry Marchant]], [[John Collins]]
* [[History of the United States]]
|-
* [[United States Bill of Rights]]
|[[Connecticut]]||July 9, 1778|| [[Roger Sherman]], [[Samuel Huntington]], [[Oliver Wolcott]], [[Titus Hosmer]], [[Andrew Adams]]
* [[Perpetual_Union|Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union]]
|-
 
|[[New York]]||July 9, 1778||[[James Duane]], [[Francis Lewis]], [[William Duer]], [[Gouverneur Morris]]
==Notes==
|-
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}
|[[Pennsylvania]]||July 9, 1778||[[Robert Morris]], [[Daniel Roberdeau]], [[Jonathan Bayard Smith]], [[William Clingan]], [[Joseph Reed]]
 
|-
==References and further reading==
|[[Virginia]]||July 9, 1778||[[Richard Henry Lee]], [[John Banister]], [[Thomas Adams]], [[John Harvie]], [[Francis Lightfoot Lee]]
*Bernstein, R.B. "Parliamentary Principles, American Realities: The Continental and Confederation Congresses, 1774-1789," in ''Inventing Congress: Origins & Establishment Of First Federal Congress'' ed by Kenneth R. Bowling and Donald R. Kennon (1999) pp 76–108
|-
* Brown, Roger H. ''Redeeming the Republic: Federalists, Taxation, and the Origins of the Constitution'' (1993), argues that the drive to replace the Articles was chiefly impelled by the need to collect hard-money taxes to pay off state and national debts
|[[South Carolina]]||July 9, 1778||[[Henry Laurens]], [[William Henry Drayton]], [[John Mathews]], [[Richard Hutson]], [[Thomas Heyward Jr.]]
*Burnett, Edmund Cody. ''The Continental Congress: A Definitive History of the Continental Congress From Its Inception in 1774 to March, 1789'' (1941)
|-
*Chadwick, Bruce. ''George Washington's War.'' (2005)
|[[North Carolina]]||July 21, 1778||[[John Penn]], [[Cornelius Harnett]], [[John Williams]]
*Feinberg, Barbara. ''The Articles Of Confederation'' (2002). [for middle school children.]
|-
* Greene, Jack, and J.R. Pole, eds. ''A Companion to the American Revolution'' (2nd ed. 2003), comprehensive survey by experts
|[[Georgia]]||July 24, 1778||[[John Walton]], [[Edward Telfair]], [[Edward Langworthy]]
*Hendrickson, David C., ''Peace Pact: The Lost World of the American Founding.'' (2003) ISBN 0-7006-1237-8
|-
*Robert W. Hoffert, ''A Politics of Tensions: The Articles of Confederation and American Political Ideas'' (1992).
|[[New Jersey]]||November 26, 1778|||[[John Witherspoon]], [[Nathaniel Scudder]]
*Lucille E. Horgan. ''Forged in War: The Continental Congress and the Origin of Military Supply and Acquisition Policy'' (2002)
|-
*{{Cite journal
|[[Delaware]]||February 12, 1779||[[Thomas McKean]], [[John Dickinson]], [[Nicholas Van Dyke]]
  |authorlink=Merrill Jensen
|-
  |last= Jensen
|[[Maryland]]||March 1, 1781||[[John Hanson]], [[Daniel Carroll]]
  |first=Merrill
|}
  |title=The Articles of Confederation: An Interpretation of the Social-Constitutional History of the American Revolution, 1774-1781
  |year=1959
}}
*{{Cite journal
  |authorlink=Merrill Jensen
  |last= Jensen
  |first=Merrill
  |title=The Idea of a National Government During the American Revolution
  |publisher=Political Science Quarterly
  |volume=58
  |year=1943
  |pages=356–79
  |url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0032-3195%28194309%2958%3A3%3C356%3ATIOANG%3E2.0.CO%3B2-M
  |issn=0032-3195
  |issue=3
  |doi=10.2307/2144490
  |journal=Political Science Quarterly
  |jstor=10.2307/2144490
}}
*Calvin Jillson and Rick K. Wilson. ''Congressional Dynamics: Structure, Coordination, and Choice in the First American Congress, 1774-1789.'' (1994)
*{{Cite book
  |authorlink=Forrest McDonald
  |last=McDonald
  |first=Forrest
  |title=Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution
  |publisher=University Press of Kansas
  |isbn=0700603115
  |year=1986
}}
*Andrew C. Mclaughlin, ''A Constitutional History of the United States'' (1935) [http://www.constitution.org/cmt/mclaughlin/chus.htm online version]
* Morris, Richard. ''The Forging of the Union, 1781-1789'' (New American Nation Series) (1988), the standard scholarly history
*Jackson T. Main, ''Political Parties before the Constitution.'' (1974)
* Parent, Joseph M. "Europe's Structural Idol: An American Federalist Republic?," ''Political Science Quarterly,'' Fall 2009, Vol. 124 Issue 3, pp 513–535, argues the Articles worked well, and could be a model for Europe today
*Phelps, Glenn A. "The Republican General" in “George Washington Reconsidered.“ edited by Don Higginbotham. (2001) ISBN 0-8139-2005-1
*Puls, Mark. ''Henry Knox: Visionary General of the American Revolution.'' (2008) ISBN- 978-1-4039-8427-2
*Jack N. Rakove, ''The Beginnings of National Politics: An Interpretive History of the Continental Congress '' (1982).
*Jack N. Rakove, “The Collapse of the Articles of Confederation,” in ''The American Founding: Essays on the Formation of the Constitution.'' Ed by J. Jackson Barlow, Leonard W. Levy and Ken Masugi. Greenwood Press. 1988. Pp 225–45 ISBN 0313256101
*Remini, Robert V. ''Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Democracy, 1833-1845. (1984) ISBN 0-06-015279-6
*Stahr, Walter. ''John Jay.'' (2005) ISBN 0-8264-1879-1
 
==Further reading==
*{{cite book |title=President Who? Forgotten Founders|last=Klos|first=Stanley L. |work= |publisher=Evisum, Inc. |location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |page=261|year=2004 |isbn=0-9752627-5-0}}


==External links==
==External links==
{{Wikisource}}
{{Wikisource}}
* [http://www.law.ou.edu/ushistory/artconf.shtml Text Version of the Articles of Confederation]
* [http://earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/articles/cover.html Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union]
* [http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/articles.html Articles of Confederation and related resources], [[Library of Congress]]
* [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/nov15.html Today in History: November 15], [[Library of Congress]]
* [http://www.usconstitution.net/articles.html United States Constitution Online - The Articles of Confederation]
* [http://www.mp3books.com/shop/audio_item.aspx?id=819 Free Download of Articles of Confederation Audio]
* [http://www.mises.org/books/conceived4.pdf The Articles of Confederation], Chapter 45 (see page 253) of Volume 4 of ''[[Conceived in Liberty]]'' by [[Murray Rothbard]], in PDF format.
* [http://www.mises.org/books/conceived4.pdf The Articles of Confederation], Chapter 45 (see page 253) of Volume 4 of ''[[Conceived in Liberty]]'' by [[Murray Rothbard]], in PDF format.
* [http://uscon.mobi Mobile friendly] version of the Articles Of Confederation
 
* [http://ararticles.com/why-did-the-articles-of-confederation-fail/ Why did the articles of confederation fail"], from ArArticles.
[[Category:Historical]]
{{Historical American Documents}}
{{Presidents of the Continental Congress}}

Revision as of 13:50, 18 November 2010

Drafting Articles of Confederation
First issued in York, Penn., 1977

The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States of America, describing the purpose and function of the federal government. The Articles were drafted by a committee appointed by the Second Continental Congress in June 1776, and the final draft was approved November 15, 1777 and sent to the states for ratification, a process that completed in March 1781. During this time, however, the Articles were the de facto system of government in use. Once ratified by all thirteen states, on March 1, 1781, Congress became the Congress of the Confederation.

The Articles established rules for the operation of the federal government, giving it the power to make war, engage in diplomacy, and handle issues in the western territories. Under the Articles, the states retained all powers not granted to the national government.

The representatives in the Second Continental Congress felt a need for a confederacy that would secure the independence of the United States while in the midst of the American War of Independence. However, Nationalists argued that the Articles were inadequate because they did not grant the federal government a taxing power, nor did they create executive or judicial powers. The Nationalists prevailed in the writing of the United States Constitution in 1787, and succeeded in gaining its ratification by 1788.

Signatures

Before the Articles of Confederation went into effect, the delegations of all states were required to sign it.

State Date signed Signers
New Hampshire July 9, 1778 Josiah Bartlett, John Wentworth Jr.
Massachusetts Bay July 9, 1778 John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Elbridge Gerry, Francis Dana, James Lovell, Samuel Holten
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations July 9, 1778 William Ellery, Henry Marchant, John Collins
Connecticut July 9, 1778 Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, Oliver Wolcott, Titus Hosmer, Andrew Adams
New York July 9, 1778 James Duane, Francis Lewis, William Duer, Gouverneur Morris
Pennsylvania July 9, 1778 Robert Morris, Daniel Roberdeau, Jonathan Bayard Smith, William Clingan, Joseph Reed
Virginia July 9, 1778 Richard Henry Lee, John Banister, Thomas Adams, John Harvie, Francis Lightfoot Lee
South Carolina July 9, 1778 Henry Laurens, William Henry Drayton, John Mathews, Richard Hutson, Thomas Heyward Jr.
North Carolina July 21, 1778 John Penn, Cornelius Harnett, John Williams
Georgia July 24, 1778 John Walton, Edward Telfair, Edward Langworthy
New Jersey November 26, 1778 John Witherspoon, Nathaniel Scudder
Delaware February 12, 1779 Thomas McKean, John Dickinson, Nicholas Van Dyke
Maryland March 1, 1781 John Hanson, Daniel Carroll

External links

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