The Articles of Confederation was an agreement among the 13 states of the United States, formerly the Thirteen Colonies, that served as the nations first frame of government. It was debated by the Second Continental Congress at Independence Hall in Philadelphia between July 1776 and November 1777, and finalized by the Congress on November 15, 1777. It came into force on March 1, 1781, after being ratified by all 13 colonial states. The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments. The individual articles set the rules for current and future operations of the confederations central government. Key features of the Articles of Confederation include:
- Name: The stile of this confederacy shall be "The United States of America".
- Sovereignty: Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.
- Central government: The Congress of the Confederation was the central government, which had power to regulate foreign affairs, war, and the postal service, and to appoint military officers, control Indian affairs, borrow money, determine the value of coin, and issue bills of credit.
- Ratification: Every state shall abide by the determinations of the United States, in Congress assembled, on all questions which by this confederation are submitted to them. And the Articles of this confederation shall be inviolably observed by every state, and the union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them, unless such alteration be agreed to in a congress of the United States, and be afterward confirmed by the legislatures of every state.
The Articles of Confederation served as the written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States after it declared independence from Great Britain. However, the Articles created a weak central government that mostly, but not entirely, prevented the individual states from conducting their own foreign diplomacy. The need for a stronger federal government soon became apparent and eventually led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which replaced the Articles of Confederation with the present United States Constitution ...
