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Articles of Confederation
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| •Key terms • Court cases •Major arguments • State responses to federal mandates • Federalism by the numbers • Index of articles about federalism |
The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union were an agreement among the original thirteen states in the United States to unite under a national government consisting of the Congress of the Confederation (which continued to refer to itself as the Continental Congress). The Articles were proposed by the Continental Congress in 1777 and went into effect in March 1781. The Articles functioned as a constitution of the United States until government under the Constitution of the United States began on March 4, 1789.
Background
The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution governing America's national government.
Before the Articles, proposals for increased cooperation among the colonies had been considered. In 1754, the Albany Congress considered and rejected the first significant cooperative proposal by Ben Franklin: the Albany Plan of Union.[1]
As events leading up to the Revolutionary War transpired and tensions began to escalate between the colonies and Britain, cooperation between the colonies became increasingly necessary. Elected representatives from 12 of the 13 colonies (Georgia did not send representatives) met at the First Continental Congress from September 5 to October 26, 1774, to discuss collective actions in response to the British blockade of Boston Harbor. The blockade was a response to the Boston Tea Party, which itself was a response to the Intolerable Acts and perceived British oppression. The First Continental Congress achieved a cooperative agreement from the participating colonies to boycott British goods unless Parliament rescinded the Intolerable Acts.[2]
The Second Continental Congress convened on May 10, 1775, after the Battles of Lexington and Concord to coordinate the war effort. Congress had no explicit governing power, but it assumed many roles of a national government. It created the Continental Army on June 14, 1775, out of the militia units around Boston, appointing George Washington as general. It also appointed ambassadors, signed treaties, and disbursed funds voluntarily provided by the states. By June 1776, support was consolidated in all 13 state governments to declare independence from Britain and establish a league with the other colonies, allowing the congressional delegates to approve the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, and begin work on a constitution for the independent United States. The Declaration also allowed Congress to begin negotiating with potential European allies, particularly France, as an independent nation[3]
Congress passed the Articles of Confederation on November 15, 1777. They took effect February 2, 1781, after Maryland became the thirteenth state to approve them.
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