Articles of Confederation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search

Articles of Confederation

Page I of the Articles of Confederation

Created November 15, 1777

Ratified March 1, 1781

Location National Archives

Author(s) Continental Congress

Signatories Continental Congress

Purpose First constitution for the United States; replaced by the

current United States Constitution on March 4, 1789

 The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was an agreement among the 13
original states of the United States of America that served as its first constitution.[1] It was
approved, after much debate (between July 1776 and November 1777), by the Second
Continental Congress on November 15, 1777, and sent to the states for ratification. The
Articles of Confederation came into force on March 1, 1781, after being ratified by all 13
states. A guiding principle of the Articles was to preserve
the independence and sovereignty of the states. The weak central
government established by the Articles received only those powers which the former
colonies had recognized as belonging to king and parliament. [2]
The document provided clearly written rules for how the states' "league of friendship"
would be organized. During the ratification process, the Congress looked to the Articles
for guidance as it conducted business, directing the war effort, conducting diplomacy
with foreign states, addressing territorial issues and dealing with Native American
relations. Little changed politically once the Articles of Confederation went into effect, as
ratification did little more than legalize what the Continental Congress had been doing.
That body was renamed the Congress of the Confederation; but most Americans
continued to call it the Continental Congress, since its organization remained the same.
[2]

As the Confederation Congress attempted to govern the continually growing American

states, delegates discovered that the limitations placed upon the central government
rendered it ineffective at doing so. As the government's weaknesses became apparent,
especially after Shays' Rebellion, some prominent political thinkers in the fledgling union
began asking for changes to the Articles. Their hope was to create a stronger
government. Initially, some states met to deal with their trade and economic problems.
However, as more states became interested in meeting to change the Articles, a
meeting was set in Philadelphia on May 25, 1787. This became the Constitutional
Convention. It was quickly agreed that changes would not work, and instead the entire
Articles needed to be replaced.[3] On March 4, 1789, the government under the Articles
was replaced with the federal government under the Constitution.[4] The new Constitution
provided for a much stronger federal government by establishing a chief executive
(the President), courts, and taxing powers.

Contents

 1Background and context

 2Drafting
 3Ratification
 4Article summaries
 5Congress under the Articles
o 5.1The army
o 5.2Foreign policy
o 5.3Taxation and commerce
o 5.4Accomplishments
o 5.5Presidents of Congress
 6The U.S. under the Articles
 7Signatures
o 7.1Signers
 8Gallery
 9Revision and replacement
o 9.1Legitimacy of closing down
o 9.2Final months
 10See also
 11References
 12Further reading
 13External links

Background and context

The political push to increase cooperation among the then-loyal colonies began with
the Albany Congress in 1754 and Benjamin Franklin's proposed Albany Plan, an inter-
colonial collaboration to help solve mutual local problems. Over the next two decades,
some of the basic concepts it addressed would strengthen; others would weaken,
especially in the degree of loyalty (or lack thereof) owed the Crown. Civil
disobedience resulted in coercive and quelling measures, such as the passage of what
the colonials referred to as the Intolerable Acts in the British Parliament, and armed
skirmishes which resulted in dissidents being proclaimed rebels. These actions eroded
the number of Crown Loyalists (Tories) among the colonials and, together with the
highly effective