Articles of Confederation

What Were the Articles of Confederation?

Suspicious of the sort of centralized power that had brought the colonies to war with Great Britain, and while the continental congress held firm in their belief that the 13 states should remain sovereign and independent, Congress also saw the need for a strong central government, with the singular goal of defeating the British in the Revolutionary War.

In response, Congress worked through six drafts of the Articles of Confederation, beginning with the first one presented by Ben Franklin and delivered to Congress in July of 1775, followed by a second and third draft by the Connecticut delegation led by Silas Deane.

Pennsylvania delegate John Dickinson presented a fourth draft in June of 1776—shortly before the American Declaration of Independence the following month—followed by two more revisions that were approved for submission to the states in November of 1777.

Ratified by the Thirteen Colonies

All states had approved the Articles by 1779, except for holdout Maryland, who contested claims by other states regarding their attachment to western lands. In response, Thomas Jefferson succeeded in persuading Virginia to yield their claims on western lands, which in turn saw Maryland’s ratification of the Articles on March the 1st, 1781.

Once ratified, the Articles of Confederation granted Congress jurisdiction over foreign relations and diplomacy, along with the authority to make treaties and alliances for the states’ common defense. It further allowed the federal government to maintain an army and a navy, the right to coin money, the creation of a national postal service, the management of Indian affairs, and the establishment of admiralty courts to adjudicate disputes between states.

The Articles further required each state to honor trade and movement of citizens between states without restriction, while insuring that free citizens of each state enjoyed equal “privileges and immunities of free citizen,” no matter what state they inhabited.

Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation

Ratified several months before Britain’s 1781 surrender at Yorktown, the Articles of Confederation provided for a loose framework of federal jurisdiction, but since the document gave Congress no authority to demand money or troops from individual states—not to mention any provision for executive or judiciary branches of government—by 1786, it became increasingly apparent that without a stronger document, the young nation would soon splinter and fail.

In response, on May 25th, 1787, delegates representing every state except Rhode Island convened in Philadelphia for the Constitutional Congress, making the Articles of Confederation, a temporary yet vital precursor to the American Constitution of today.