The Articles of Confederation
The Continental Congress adopted the Articles
of Confederation, the first constitution of the United
States, on November 15, 1777. However, ratification of the
Articles of Confederation by all thirteen states did not occur
until March 1, 1781. The Articles created a loose confederation
of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving
most of the power with the state governments. The need for
a stronger Federal government soon became apparent and eventually
led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The present
United States Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation
on March 4, 1789.
Library of Congress Web Site | External
Web Sites | Selected Bibliography
A
Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional
Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Important milestones related to the Articles of Confederation include the following references in the Journals of the Continental Congress:
- June 11, 1776 - The Continental Congress resolved "that a committee be appointed to prepare and digest the form of a confederation to be entered into between these colonies."
- June 12, 1776 - The committee members were appointed "to prepare and digest the form of a confederation to be entered into between these colonies."
- July 12, 1776 - The first draft
of the Articles of Confederation was presented to the
Continental Congress.
- November 15, 1777 - The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation.
- November 17, 1777 - The Articles of Confederation were submitted to the states with a request for immediate action.
- June 25, 1778 - A committee of three was appointed to prepare the form of a ratification of the Articles of Confederation.
- June 26, 1778 - The Articles of Confederation were ordered to be engrossed.
- June 27, 1778 - The first engrossed copy was found to be incorrect, and a second engrossed copy was ordered.
- July 9, 1778 - The second engrossed copy of the Articles of Confederation was signed and ratified by the delegates from eight states: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and South Carolina.
- July 21, 1778 - North Carolina delegates signed the ratification of the Articles of Confederation.
- July 24, 1778 - Georgia delegates signed the ratification of the Articles of Confederation.
- November 26, 1778 - New Jersey delegates signed the ratification of the Articles of Confederation.
- May 5, 1779 - Delaware delegates signed the ratification of the Articles of Confederation.
- March 1, 1781 - Maryland delegates signed the ratification of the Articles of Confederation. The Articles were finally
ratified by all thirteen states.
- February 21, 1787 - Congress approved a plan to hold
a convention in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of
Confederation.
Search the Journals
of the Continental Congress using the
word "confederation" or the phrase "Articles
of Confederation" to locate additional information
on this topic.
The Letters
of Delegates to Congress contains drafts of the Articles
of Confederation by Josiah
Bartlett and John
Dickinson from late June 1776. Both Bartlett and Dickinson
were members of the committee responsible for writing
the draft of the Articles of Confederation. This publication
also includes a few notes
on the plan of Confederation written by Bartlett.
Elliot's
Debates provides a summary of the ratification process
for the Articles of Confederation, a transcript of Thomas
Jefferson's notes of debate on confederation, and another
copy
of the Articles.
Documents
from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention,
1774 to 1789
This collection contains 277 documents relating to the work of Congress and the drafting and ratification of the Constitution. It includes the essay To
Form a More Perfect Union, which
provides background information on the weaknesses in the
Articles of Confederation and the call for a new Constitution.
- Articles of Confederation and perpetual union between the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Williamsburg: Printed by Alexander Purdie, 1777.
James Madison Papers, 1723 to 1859
The Madison Papers consist of approximately 12,000 items, spanning the period 1723-1859, captured in some 72,000 digital images.
Search
Madison's papers using the word "confederation"
to locate additional documents related to the Articles
of Confederation and the Confederation Government.
Printed Ephemera: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera
The Printed Ephemera collection comprises 28,000 primary-source items dating from the seventeenth century to the present and encompasses key events and eras in American history.
- Articles of confederation and perpetual union between the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, and Providence plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Williamsburg:
Printed by Alexander Purdie, 1777.
Thomas Jefferson Papers, 1606 to 1827
The complete Thomas Jefferson Papers from the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress consists of approximately 27,000 documents.
Search
this collection to find additional documents that mention
the Articles of Confederation.
Jump
Back in Time: The Articles of Confederation Were Adopted,
November 15, 1777
Creating the United States
This online exhibition offers insights into how the nation’s founding documents were forged and the role that imagination and vision played in the unprecedented creative act of forming a self–governing country. The section of the exhibition Road to the Constitution contains a number of documents related to the Articles of Confederation.
American
Memory Timeline: Policies and Problems of the Confederation
Government
Provides an overview of the Confederation Government
and links to related documents.
November
15, 1777
On November 15, 1777, the second Continental Congress
adopted the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.
September
17, 1787
Members of the Constitutional Convention signed the final
draft of the Constitution on September 17, 1787.
Articles
of Confederation, Avalon Project at Yale Law School
Articles of Confederation, National Archives
and Records Administration
Our
Documents, Articles of Confederation, National Archives
and Records Administration
Hoffert, Robert W. A Politics of Tensions:
The Articles of Confederation and American Political Ideas.
Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1992. [Catalog
Record]
Jensen, Merrill. The Articles of Confederation:
An Interpretation of the Social-Constitutional History of
the American Revolution 1774-1781. Madison: University
of Wisconsin Press, 1970. [Catalog
Record]
-----. The New Nation: A History of the
United States during the Confederation, 1781-1789.
New York: Knopf, 1950. [Catalog
Record]
Wood, Gordon S. The Creation of the
American Republic, 1776-1787. Chapel Hill: University
of North Carolina Press, 1969. [Catalog
Record]
Callahan, Kerry P. The Articles of
Confederation: A Primary Source Investigation into the Document
that Preceded the U.S. Constitution. New York: Rosen
Primary Source, 2003. [Catalog
Record]
Feinberg, Barbara Silberdick. The
Articles of Confederation: The First Constitution of the
United States. Brookfield, Conn.: Twenty-First Century
Books, 2002. [Catalog
Record]
Price Hossell, Karen. The Articles
of Confederation. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2004.
[Catalog
Record]
Roza, Greg. Evaluating the Articles of Confederation: Determining the Validity of Information and Arguments. New York: Rosen Pub., 2006. [Catalog
Record]
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