The Articles of Confederation

The Second Continental Congress began drafting a plan of union in 1776, with John Dickinson as principal author, and adopted the Articles of Confederation on November 15, 1777. They took effect on March 1, 1781, when Maryland ratified after states with western land claims agreed to cede them to the nation. The Articles described a firm league of friendship and a perpetual union among states that each retained its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power not expressly delegated to the United States.

The national government consisted of a single-chamber Congress in which each state had one vote, regardless of population. There was no separate executive and no national court system. Congress could declare war, make treaties, borrow money, and manage relations with Native nations, but it could not levy taxes, regulate commerce, or enforce its decisions, and it depended on requisitions the states often ignored. Major decisions required nine states, and amendments required all thirteen, which made reform almost impossible.

The Confederation won the Revolutionary War, negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris, and passed the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which set the pattern for creating new states. But unpaid debts, trade wars between states, and Shays' Rebellion in Massachusetts convinced many leaders that a stronger government was needed. The Constitutional Convention of 1787, called to revise the Articles, replaced them instead, and the new government began on March 4, 1789. The Articles remain the main contrast for understanding why the Constitution created a national government with direct power over individuals.