The 'Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union', commonly known as the 'Articles of Confederation', was the first governing document, or
constitution, of the
United States of America. The final draft was written in summer 1777 and adopted by the
Second Continental Congress on
November 15,
1777 in
York, Pennsylvania after a year of debate. In practice it 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 that point Congress became the
Congress of the Confederation. The ''Articles'' set the rules for operations of the "United States" confederation. The confederation was capable of making war, negotiating diplomatic agreements, and resolving issues regarding the western territories; it could print money and borrow inside and outside the US.
One criticism by those who favored a more powerful central
state was that it lacked taxing authority; the federal government had to request funds from the states. A second concern was its ''one-state, one-vote'' plank. The larger states were expected to contribute more but had only one vote, though they could remedy this by dividing into smaller states. The Articles created a mutual defense confederation designed to manage the
American Revolutionary War. The Articles were replaced by the
United States Constitution on
June 21,
1788.
Background
The political push for the colonies to increase cooperation began in the
French and Indian Wars in the mid 1750s. The opening of the
American Revolutionary War in 1775 induced the various states to cooperate in seceding from the British empire. The
Second Continental Congress starting 1775 acted as the confederation organ that ran the war. Congress presented the Articles for enactment by the states in 1777, while prosecuting the
American Revolutionary war against the
Kingdom of Great Britain.
Ratification
Congress began to move for ratification of the Articles in 1777:
''The articles can always 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...''[Monday, November 17 1777, Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789. A Century of Lawmaking, 1774-1873]
The document could not become officially effective until it was ratified by all of the thirteen colonies. The first state to ratify was
Delaware on
February 5,
1778. 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 hold-out; 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 were very different. The original five paged Articles contained thirteen articles, a conclusion, and a signatory section. The following list contains short summaries of each of the thirteen articles.
#Establishes the name of the confederation as "The United States of America" and says it is a "perpetual Union."
#Asserts the precedence of the separate states over 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."
#Establishes the United States as a league of states united ". . . 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 . . . ."
#Establishes
freedom of movement–anyone can pass freely between states, excluding "
paupers,
vagabonds, and
fugitives 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
extradited to and tried in the state in which the crime was committed.
#Allocates one vote in the
Congress of the Confederation (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; individuals could not serve more than three out of any six years.
#Only the central government is allowed to conduct
foreign relations and to
declare war. No states may have navies or standing armies, or engage in war, without permission of Congress (although the state militias are encouraged).
#When an army is raised for common defense, colonels and military ranks 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 rights 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; pre-approves
Canada, if it applies for membership.
#Reaffirms that the Confederation accepts war debt incurred by Congress before the articles.
#Declares that the articles are perpetual, and can only be altered by approval of Congress with ratification by ''all'' the state legislatures.
Still at war with the
Kingdom of Great Britain, the colonists were reluctant to establish another powerful national government. Jealously guarding their new independence, the Continental Congress created a loosely structured
unicameral legislature that protected the liberty of the individual states at the expense of the confederation. While calling on Congress to regulate military and monetary affairs, for example, the Articles of Confederation provided no mechanism to ensure states complied with requests for troops or revenue. At times, this left the military in a precarious position, as
George Washington wrote in a 1781 letter to the governor of
Massachusetts,
John Hancock.
The end of the war
The
Treaty of Paris (1783), which ended hostilities with Great Britain, languished in Congress for months because state representatives failed to attend sessions of the national legislature. Yet Congress had no power to enforce attendance. Writing to
George Clinton in September 1783, George Washington complained:
:''Congress has not yet come to a determination 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.''
[Letter George Washington to George Clinton, September 11 1783. The George Washington Papers, 1741-1799]
Function
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. But as a tool to build a centralized war-making government, they were largely a failure. Under the articles Congress could make decisions, but had no power to enforce them. There was a requirement for unanimous approval before any modifications could be made to the Articles.
Congress was denied the power of taxation: it could only request money from the states. The states did not generally comply with the requests in full, leaving the confederation chronically short of funds. The states and the national congress had both incurred debts during the war, and how to pay the debts became a major issue. Some states paid off their debts; however, the centralizers favored federal assumption of states' debts.
Nevertheless, the
Continental Congress did take two actions with lasting impact. The
Land Ordinance of 1785 established the general land survey and ownership provisions used throughout later American expansion. The
Northwest Ordinance of 1787 noted the agreement of the original states to give up
western land claims and cleared the way for the entry of new states.
Once the war was won, the
Continental Army was largely disbanded. A very small national force was maintained to man frontier forts and protect against Indian 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,
Washington defused the
Newburgh conspiracy, but riots by unpaid Pennsylvania veterans forced the Congress to leave Philadelphia temporarily.
Revision and replacement
In May 1786,
Charles Pinckney of
South Carolina proposed that Congress revise the Articles of Confederation. Recommended changes included granting
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.
In September, five states assembled in the
Annapolis Convention (1786) to discuss adjustments that would improve commerce. Under their chairman,
Alexander Hamilton, they invited state representatives to convene in
Philadelphia to discuss improvements to the federal government. Although the states' representatives to the
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. Historian Forrest McDonald, using the ideas of James Madison from ''Federalist 39'', describes the change this way:
However, other writers, following
Patrick Henry,
George Mason, and other "antifederalists," were not so eager to give up the local autonomy won by the revolution. Historian Ralph Ketcham comments:
The Articles were still in effect until 1790, when every one of the 13 states had ratified the new Constitution. The Congress under the Articles continued to sit until late in 1788, though seldom with a
quorum near the end.
[1]
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.
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."
[1] 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.
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. Many of the participants in the closed
Constitutional Convention were scrip and/or land speculators.
[2] Also, manufacturers wanted a high tariff as a barrier to foreign goods, but competition between states made this impossible without a central government.
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
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 and Secretary to the Congress.
But, the ''Articles'' at that time 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 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.
On
February 2,
1781, the much awaited decision was taken by the
Maryland General Assembly in
Annapolis. As the last piece of business during the afternoon Session, "among engrossed Bills" was "signed and sealed by Governor
Thomas 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 pass the ratification was reported to the Continental Congress on February 12. The 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 Bay:
John Hancock,
Samuel Adams,
Elbridge Gerry,
Francis Dana,
James Lovell, and
Samuel Holten
★
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations:
William Ellery,
Henry Marchant, and
John Collins
★
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman¹,
Samuel Huntington,
Oliver Wolcott,
Titus Hosmer, and
Andrew Adams
★
New York:
James Duane,
Francis Lewis,
William Duer, and
Gouverneur Morris
★
New Jersey:
John Witherspoon and
Nathaniel Scudder
★
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris²,
Daniel Roberdeau,
Jonathan Bayard Smith,
William Clingan, and
Joseph Reed
★
Delaware:
Thomas McKean,
John Dickinson³, and
Nicholas Van Dyke
★
Maryland:
John Hanson and
Daniel Carroll³
★
Virginia:
Richard Henry Lee,
John Banister,
Thomas Adams,
John Harvie, and
Francis Lightfoot Lee
★
North Carolina:
John Penn,
Cornelius Harnett, and
John Williams
★
South Carolina:
Henry Laurens,
William Henry Drayton,
John Mathews,
Richard Hutson, and
Thomas Heyward Jr.
★
Georgia:
John Walton,
Edward Telfair, and
Edward Langworthy
:¹ The only person to sign all four great state papers of the United States: the
Articles of Association, the
Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the
United States Constitution.
:² One of only 2 people to sign three of the great state papers of the United States: the
Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the
United States Constitution.
:³ One of only 4 people to sign both the Articles of Confederation and the
United States 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
Presidents of the United States in Congress Assembled. The "president" under the Articles was the presiding officer of Congress. He was not the chief
executive, as is the
President of the United States under the Constitution.
★
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
Notes
1. Rakove 1988 p. 230
2. Our Enemy the State, Albert Jay Nock
References
★ R. B. Bernstein, "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
★ Burnett, Edmund Cody. ''The Continental Congress: A Definitive History of the Continental Congress From Its Inception in 1774 to March, 1789'' (1941)
★ Barbara Feinberg, ''The Articles Of Confederation'' (2002). [for middle school children.]
★ Robert W. Hoffert, ''A Politics of Tensions: The Articles of Confederation and American Political Ideas'' (1992).
★ Lucille E. Horgan. ''Forged in War: The Continental Congress and the Origin of Military Supply and Acquisition Policy'' (2002)
★ Merrill Jensen, ''The Articles of Confederation: An Interpretation of the Social-Constitutional History of the American Revolution, 1774-1781'' (1959).
★ Merrill Jensen: "The Idea of a National Government During the American Revolution", ''Political Science Quarterly,'' 58 (1943), 356-79.
online at JSTOR
★ Calvin Jillson and Rick K. Wilson. ''Congressional Dynamics: Structure, Coordination, and Choice in the First American Congress, 1774-1789.'' (1994)
★ Forest McDonald.''Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution.'' (1985)
★ Andrew C. Mclaughlin, ''A Constitutional History of the United States'' (1935)
online version
★ Pauline Maier, ''American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence'' (1998).
★ Jackson T. Main, ''Political Parties before the Constitution.'' University of North Carolina Press, 1974
★ 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
Further reading
★
President Who? Forgotten Founders, , Stanley L., Klos, Evisum, Inc., 2004, ISBN 0-9752627-5-0
External links
★
History and Text Version of the Articles of Confederation by Stanley L. Klos
★
Text Version of the Articles of Confederation
★
Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union
★
Articles of Confederation and related resources,
Library of Congress
★
Today in History: November 15,
Library of Congress
★
United States Constitution Online - The Articles of Confederation
★
Free Download of Articles of Confederation Audio
★ Audio narration (mp3) of the
Articles of Confederation at Americana Phonic
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