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
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A
Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation
The Journals
of the Continental Congress contain the first draft
of the Articles of Confederation as presented to the
Continental Congress on July 12, 1776. It would take more
than a year of debate before Congress adopted the Articles
of Confederation on November
15, 1777. Two days later the Articles were submitted
to the states with a request for immediate action.
However, it was not until Maryland's approval on March
1, 1781 that the Articles of Confederation were finally
ratified by all the states. On
February 21, 1787, Congress approved a plan to hold
a convention in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of
Confederation.
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.
Search
this collection during the years 1776 to 1789 using the
word "confederation" or phrase "Articles
of Confederation" to locate additional information
on this topic.
Documents
from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention,
1774-1789
Includes the special presentation To
Form a More Perfect Union: The Work of the Continental
Congress and the Constitutional Convention, which
provides background information on the weaknesses in the
Articles of Confederation and the call for a new Constitution.
Also contains an incomplete
copy of the Articles of Confederation printed in 1777.
The
James Madison Papers
James Madison's "Vices
of the Political System of the U. States" outlined
the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.
Search
Madison's papers using the word "confederation"
to locate additional documents related to the Articles
of Confederation and the Confederation Government.
The
Nineteenth Century in Print: Periodicals
Includes an article from The
Atlantic Monthly that examined the weaknesses
of the U.S. government under the Articles of Confederation.
Conduct a full-text
search in this collection to find more articles from
the nineteenth century that discuss the Articles of Confederation.
The
Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress
Includes Jefferson's
notes on debates in the Continental Congress related
to the Articles of Confederation. Also contains Jefferson's
printed proposals for the Articles of Confederation.
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
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.
American
Confederation, The James Madison Center, James Madison
University
Articles
of Confederation, Avalon Project at Yale Law School
Charters
of Freedom, 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]
Jensen, Merrill. 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]
Price Hossell, Karen. The Articles
of Confederation. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2004.
[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]
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