First constitution of the United States of America (1781–1789)
Articles of Confederation
Page I of the Articles of Confederation
Created
November 15, 1777
Ratified
February 2, 1781
Date effective
March 1, 1781
Superseded
March 4, 1789, by the United States Constitution
Location
National Archives
Author(s)
Continental Congress
Signatories
Continental Congress
Purpose
First constitution for the United States
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox document with unknown parameter "date_superseded"
The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was an agreement among the 13 states of the United States, formerly the Thirteen Colonies, that served as the nation's first frame of government. It was debated by the Second Continental Congress at Independence Hall in Philadelphia between July 1776 and November 1777, and finalized by the Congress on November 15, 1777. It came into force on March 1, 1781, after being ratified by all 13 colonial states. A guiding principle of the Articles was the establishment and preservation of the independence and sovereignty of the states. The Articles consciously established a weak federal government, affording it only those powers the former colonies had recognized as belonging to king and parliament. The document provided clearly written rules for how the states' league of friendship, known as the Perpetual Union, would be organized.
While waiting for all states to ratify, the Congress observed the Articles as it conducted business, directing the war effort, conducting diplomacy with foreign states, addressing territorial issues and dealing with Native American relations. Little changed procedurally once the Articles of Confederation went into effect, as ratification did little more than constitutionalize 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.
As the Confederation Congress attempted to govern the continually growing U.S. states, its delegates discovered that the limitations placed upon the central government (such as in assembling delegates, raising funds, and regulating commerce)[1] 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, in September 1786, some states met to address interstate protectionist trade barriers between them. Shortly thereafter, as more states became interested in meeting to revise the Articles, a meeting was set in Philadelphia on May 25, 1787. This became the Constitutional Convention. Delegates quickly agreed that the defects of the frame of government could not be remedied by altering the Articles, and so went beyond their mandate by replacing it with a new constitution. On March 4, 1789, the government under the Articles was replaced with the federal government under the Constitution. The new Constitution provided for a much stronger federal government by establishing a chief executive (the president), courts, and taxing powers.
^"Identifying Defects in the Constitution | To Form a More Perfect Union | Articles and Essays | Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774–1789 | Digital Collections | Library of Congress". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
and 25 Related for: Articles of Confederation information
The ArticlesofConfederation and Perpetual Union was an agreement among the 13 states of the United States, formerly the Thirteen Colonies, that served...
States. Upon the ratification of the ArticlesofConfederation and Perpetual Union, which served as new first constitution of the U.S. in March 1781, the...
state delegation had one vote. The Congress was created by the ArticlesofConfederation and Perpetual Union upon its ratification in 1781, formally replacing...
A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created...
1781, the United States ratified the ArticlesofConfederation and Perpetual Union and prevailed in the Battle of Yorktown, the last major land battle...
United Colonies of New England, commonly known as the New England Confederation, was a confederal alliance of the New England colonies of Massachusetts...
exhaustive list ofconfederations. Includes confederationsofconfederations. The Ancient Greeks formed many Leagues which often acted as confederations and alliances...
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States. It superseded the ArticlesofConfederation, the nation's first constitution...
Perpetual Union is a feature of the ArticlesofConfederation and Perpetual Union, which established the United States of America as a political entity...
include those who signed the United States Declaration of Independence, ArticlesofConfederation, and the United States Constitution, and others. In 1973...
a framework for how politics would be carried out. It was the ArticlesofConfederation that provided the necessary structure to the new nation during...
Congress of the Confederation, which helped guide the new nation through the final stages of the Revolutionary War. Under the Articles, the Confederation Congress...
to become an articled clerk ArticlesofConfederation, the predecessor to the current United States Constitution Article of Impeachment, a formal document...
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France...
Declaration of Independence, and each joined the first Union of states between 1777 and 1781, upon ratifying the ArticlesofConfederation. These states...
government of the U.S. during most of the Revolutionary War. In March 1781, the nation's first Frame of Government, the ArticlesofConfederation and Perpetual...
Dissatisfied with the weak national government established by the ArticlesofConfederation, he helped organize the Constitutional Convention, which produced...
often called the Confederation Congress. During this period, it successfully managed the war effort, drafted the ArticlesofConfederation and Perpetual...
between two military officers. The ArticlesofConfederation, prepared by John Dickinson, and the Declaration of Independence, drafted by Thomas Jefferson...
Canadian Confederation (French: Confédération canadienne) was the process by which three British North American provinces—the Province of Canada, Nova...
at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the ArticlesofConfederation between 1781 and 1789...
The German Confederation (German: Deutscher Bund, German pronunciation: [ˌdɔɪ̯t͡ʃɐ ˈbʊnt] ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign...
the years when the ArticlesofConfederation served as the constitution of the United States continue to be valid after the Articles were superseded by...
the ArticlesofConfederation was the same as seceding from the Articles government. In 1803, he wrote that the unanimous dissolution of the Articles Confederation...
Global Information