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Oct 10, 2023 · Ratified on March 1, 1781, the Articles of Confederation served as the United States' first constitution. This guide provides access to digital materials at the Library of Congress, links to related external websites, and a selected print bibliography.
Primary Source: The Articles of Confederation, 1777. The text of the Articles provided here is taken from the National Archives website “America’s Historical Documents,” on the page for the Articles of Confederation. Titles indicating the subject-matter of each article have been added in brackets.
The method of research chosen for this essay was to analyze a series of primary sources, like the Federalist and Anti Federalists Papers, the Articles themselves, the Constitution, and others while also doing a study of modern historians’ work on the subject.
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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.
The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any...
The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse among the people of the different States in this Union, the free inhabitants of each of these States, paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice excepted, shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several States; and the people of each State s...
For the most convenient management of the general interests of the United States, delegates shall be annually appointed in such manner as the legislatures of each State shall direct, to meet in Congress on the first Monday in November, in every year, with a powerreserved to each State to recall its delegates, or any of them, at any time within the ...
No State, without the consent of the United States in Congress assembled, shall send any embassy to, or receive any embassy from, or enter into any conference, agreement, alliance or treaty with any King, Prince or State; nor shall any person holding any office of profit or trust under the United States, or any of them, accept any present, emolumen...
When land forces are raised by any State for the common defense, all officers of or under the rank of colonel, shall be appointed by the legislature of each State respectively, by whom such forces shall be raised, or in such manner as such State shall direct, and all vacancies shall be filled up by the State which first made the appointment.
All charges of war, and all other expenses that shall be incurred for the common defense or general welfare, and allowed by the United States in Congress assembled, shall be defrayed out of a common treasury, which shall be supplied by the several States in proportion to the value of all land within each State, granted or surveyed for any person, a...
The United States in Congress assembled, shall have the sole and exclusive right and power of determining on peace and war, except in the cases mentioned in the sixth article -- of sending and receiving ambassadors -- entering into treaties and alliances, provided that no treaty of commerce shall be made whereby the legislative power of the respect...
The Committee of the States, or any nine of them, shall be authorized to execute, in the recess of Congress, such of the powers of Congress as the United States in Congress assembled, by the consent of the nine States, shall from time to time think expedient to vest them with; provided that no power be delegated to the said Committee, for the exerc...
Canada acceding to this confederation, and adjoining in the measures of the United States, shall be admitted into, and entitled to all the advantages of this Union; but no other colony shall be admitted into the same, unless such admission be agreed to by nine States.
To help readers understand and evaluate such claims, this piece describes the formation and content of the Articles of Confederation and explains four ways in which the Articles may provide evidence of the original meaning of the Constitution.
- Gregory E. Maggs
- 2017
But what legacy can be ascribed to the Articles of Confederation, the original federal charter which the Constitution of 1787 replaced after less than a decade of desultory operation?
Nov 15, 2011 · Today in History–November 15–the Library of Congress features the Articles of Confederation, adopted by the Second Continental Congress on this day in 1777. Although Congress urged prompt action, it took more than three years for all thirteen states to ratify the articles that supported a loose confederation of sovereign states and a…
