The document which provided for the original Government of The United States of America, which lasted from 1781-1789. It is generally regarded as rather weak, in that it placed a great deal of power in the State's, as opposed to today, in which the Federal Government holds more power. With the Constitutional Convention in 1789, this document was rendered obsolete in favor of the Constitution of the United States of America, a much better form of Government than the one below, IMHO.

Agreed to by Congress November 15, 1777; ratified and in force, March 1, 1781.

Preamble

To all to whom these Presents shall come, we the undersigned Delegates of the States affixed to our Names send greeting. Whereas the Delegates of the United States of America in Congress assembled did on the fifteenth day of November in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy Seven, and in the Second Year of the Independence of America agree to certain articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia in the Words following, viz. "Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.


Article I.

The Style of this confederacy shall be "The United States of America."


Article II.

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.


Article III.

The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defence, 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 other pretence whatever.


Article IV.

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 shall have free ingress and regress to and from any other State, and shall enjoy therein all the privileges of trade and commerce, subject to the same duties, impositions and restrictions as the inhabitants thereof respectively, provided that such restriction shall not extend so far as to prevent the removal of property imported into any state, to any other state of which the Owner is an inhabitant; provided also that no imposition, duties or restriction shall be laid by any state, on the property of the United States, or either of them.

If any person guilty of or charged with treason, felony, or other high misdemeanor in any state, shall flee from Justice, and be found in any of the United States, he shall upon demand of the governor or executive power of the state from which he fled, be delivered up and removed to the State having jurisdiction of his offence.

Full faith and credit shall be given in each of these States to the records, acts and judicial proceedings of the courts and magistrates of every other state.


Article V.

For the more convenient management of the general interests of the United States, delegates shall be annually appointed in such manner as the legislature of each state shall direct, to meet in Congress on the first Monday in November, in every year, with a power reserved to each state, to recall its delegates, or any of them, at any time within the year, and to send others in their stead, for the remainder of the year.

No state shall be represented in Congress by less than two, nor by more than seven Members; and no person shall be capable of being a delegate for more than three years in any term of six years; nor shall any person, being a delegate, be capable of holding any office under the United States, for which he, or another for his benefit receives any salary, fees or emolument of any kind.

Each state shall maintain its own delegates in a meeting of the States, and while they act as members of the committee of the States.

In determining questions in the United States, in Congress assembled, each State shall have one vote.

Freedom of speech and debate in Congress shall not be impeached or questioned in any Court, or place out of Congress, and the members of Congress shall be protected in their persons from arrests and imprisonments, during the time of their going to and from, and attendance on Congress, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace.


Article VI.

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, or 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 of any present, emolument, office or title of any kind whatever from any king, prince or foreign state; nor shall the United States in Congress assembled, or any of them, grant any title of nobility.

No two or more States shall enter into any treaty, confederation or alliance whatever between them, without the consent of the United States in Congress assembled, specifying accurately the purposes for which the same is to be entered into, and how long it shall continue.

No state shall lay any imposts or duties, which may interfere with any stipulations in treaties, entered into by the United States in Congress assembled, with any king, prince or state, in pursuance of any treaties already proposed by Congress, to the courts of France and Spain.

No vessels of war shall be kept up in time of peace by any State, except such number only, as shall be deemed necessary by the United States in Congress assembled, for the defence of such State or its trade; nor shall any body of forces be kept up by any State, in time of peace, except such number only, as in the judgment of the United States in Congress assembled, shall be deemed requisite to garrison the forts necessary for the defence of such State; but every State shall always keep up a well regulated and disciplined militia, sufficiently armed and accoutered, and shall provide and constantly have ready for use, in public stores, a due number of field pieces and tents, and a proper quantity of arms, ammunition and camp equipage.

No state shall engage in any war without the consent of the United States in Congress assembled, unless such state be actually invaded by enemies, or shall have received certain advice of a resolution being formed by some nation of Indians to invade such State, and the danger is so imminent as not to admit of a delay, till the United States in Congress assembled can be consulted: nor shall any state grant commissions to any ships or vessels of war, nor letters of marque or reprisal, except it be after a declaration of war by the United States in Congress assembled, and then only against the kingdom or State and the subjects thereof, against which war has been so declared, and under such regulations as shall be established by the United States in Congress assembled, unless such state be infested by pirates, in which case vessels of war may be fitted out for that occasion, and kept so long as the danger shall continue, or until the United States in Congress assembled shall determine otherwise.


Article VII.

When land forces are raised by any state for the common defence, 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.


Article VIII.

All charges of war, and all other expenses that shall be incurred for the common defence 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 to or surveyed for any person, as such land and the buildings and improvements thereon shall be estimated according to such mode as the United States in Congress assembled, shall from time to time direct and appoint. The taxes for paying that proportion shall be laid and levied by the authority and direction of the legislatures of the several States within the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress assembled.


Article IX.

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 respective States shall be restrained from imposing such imposts and duties on foreigners, as their own people are subjected to, or from prohibiting the exportation or importation of any species of goods or commodities whatsoever- of establishing rules for deciding in all cases, what captures on land or water shall be legal, and in what manner prizes taken by land or naval forces in the service of the United States shall be divided or appropriated- of granting letters of marque and reprisal in times of peace- appointing courts for the trial of piracies and felonies committed on the high seas and establishing courts for receiving and determining finally appeals in all cases of captures, provided that no member of Congress shall be appointed a judge of any of the said courts.

The United States in Congress assembled shall also be the last resort on appeal in all disputes and differences now subsisting or that hereafter may arise between two or more States concerning boundary, jurisdiction or any other cause whatever; which authority shall always be exercised in the manner following:- Whenever the legislative or executive authority or lawful agent State in controversy with another shall present a petition to Congress, stating the matter in question and praying for a hearing, notice thereof shall be given by order of Congress to the legislative or executive authority of the other State in controversy, and a day assigned for the appearance of the parties by their lawful agents, who shall then be directed to appoint by joint consent, commissioners or judges to constitute a court for hearing and determining the matter in question; but if they cannot agree, Congress shall name three persons out of each of the United States, and from the list of such persons each party shall alternately strike out one, the petitioners beginning, until the number shall be reduced to thirteen; and from that number not less than seven, nor more than nine names as Congress shall direct, shall in the presence of Congress be drawn out by lot, and the persons whose names shall be so drawn or any five of them, shall be commissioners or judges, to hear and finally determine the controversy, so always as a major part of the judges who shall hear the cause shall agree in the determination: and if either party shall neglect to attend at the day appointed, without showing reasons, which Congress shall judge sufficient, or being present shall refuse to strike, the Congress shall proceed to nominate three persons out of each State, and the Secretary of Congress shall strike in behalf of such party absent or refusing; and the judgment and sentence of the court to be appointed, in the manner before prescribed, shall be final and conclusive; and if any of the parties shall refuse to submit to the authority of such court, or to appear to defend their claim or cause, the court shall nevertheless proceed to pronounce sentence, or judgment, which shall in like manner be final and decisive, the judgment or sentence and other proceedings being in either case transmitted to Congress, and lodged among the acts of Congress for the security of the parties concerned: provided that every commissioner, before he sits in judgment, shall take an oath to be administered by one of the judges of the supreme or superior court of the state, where the cause shall be tried, "well and truly to hear and determine the matter in question, according to the best of his judgment, without favor, affection or hope of reward;" provided also that no State shall be deprived of territory for the benefit of the United States.

All controversies concerning the private right of soil claimed under different grants of two or more States, whose jurisdictions as they may respect such lands, and the States which passed such grants are adjusted, the said grants or either of them being at the same time claimed to have originated antecedent to such settlement of jurisdiction, shall on the petition of either party to the Congress of the United States, be finally determined as near as may be in the same manner as is before prescribed for deciding disputes respecting territorial jurisdiction between different States.

The United States in Congress assembled shall also have the sole and exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and value of coin struck by their own authority, or by that of the respective States- fixing the standard of weights and measures throughout the United States.- regulating the trade and managing all affairs with the Indians, not members of any of the States, provided that the legislative right of any state within its own limits be not infringed or violated- establishing and regulating post offices from one State to another, throughout all the United States, and exacting such postage on the papers passing through the same as may be requisite to defray the expenses of the said office- appointing all officers of the land forces, in the service of the United States, excepting regimental officers- appointing all the officers of the naval forces, and commissioning all officers whatever in the service of the United States -making rules for the government and regulation of the said land and naval forces, and directing their operations.

The United States in Congress assembled shall have authority to appoint a committee, to sit in the recess of Congress, to be denominated "A Committee of the States," and to consist of one delegate from each state; and to appoint such other committees and civil officers as may be necessary for managing the general affairs of the United States under their direction- to appoint one of their number to preside, provided that no person be allowed to serve in the office of president more than one year in any term of three years; to ascertain the necessary sums of Money to be raised for the service of the United States, and to appropriate and apply the same for defraying the public expenses- to borrow money, or emit bills on the credit of the United States, transmitting every half year to the respective States an account of the sums of money so borrowed or emitted,- to build and equip a navy- to agree upon the number of land forces, and to make requisitions from each state for its quota, in proportion to the number of white inhabitants in such state; which requisition shall be binding, and thereupon the legislature of each State shall appoint the regimental officers, raise the men and clothe, arm and equip them in a soldier like manner, at the expense of the United States, and the officers and men so clothed, armed and equipped shall march to the place appointed, and within the time agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled. But if the United States in Congress assembled shall, on consideration of circumstances judge proper that any State should not raise men, or should raise a smaller number than its quota, and that any other state should raise a greater number of men than the quota thereof, such extra number shall be raised, officered, clothed, armed and equipped in the same manner as the quota of such State, unless the legislature of such state shall judge that such extra number cannot be safely spared out of the same, in which case they shall raise officer, clothe, arm and equip as many of such extra number as they judge can be safely spared. And the officers and men so clothed, armed and equipped, shall march to the place appointed, and within the time agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled.

The United States in Congress assembled shall never engage in a war, nor grant letters of marque and reprisal in time of peace, nor enter into any treaties or alliances, nor coin money, nor regulate the value thereof, nor ascertain the sums and expenses necessary for the defence and welfare of the United States, or any of them, nor emit bills, nor borrow money on the credit of the United States, nor appropriate money, nor agree upon the number of vessels of war, to be built or purchased, or the number of land or sea forces to be raised, nor appoint a commander-in-chief of the army or navy, unless nine States assent to the same: nor shall a question on any other point, except for adjourning from day to day be determined, unless by the votes of a majority of the United States in Congress assembled.

The Congress of the United States shall have power to adjourn to any time within the year, and to any place within the United States, so that no period of adjournment be for a longer duration than the space of six months, and shall publish the journal of their proceedings monthly, except such parts thereof relating to treaties, alliances or military operations as in their judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the delegates of each state on any question shall be entered on the journal, when it is desired by any delegate; and the delegates of a State, or any of them, at his or their request shall be furnished with a transcript of the said journal, except such parts as are above excepted, to lay before the legislatures of the several States.


Article X.

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 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 exercise of which, by the Articles of Confederation, the voice of nine States in the Congress of the United States assembled is requisite.


Article XI.

Canada acceding to this Confederation, and joining 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.


Article XII.

All bills of credit emitted, monies borrowed and debts contracted by, or under the authority of Congress, before the assembling of the United States, in pursuance of the present Confederation, shall be deemed and considered as a charge against the United States, for payment and satisfaction whereof the said United States, and the public faith are hereby solemnly pledged.


Article XIII.

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 afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every State.


And whereas it hath pleased the Great Governor of the World to incline the hearts of the legislatures we respectively represent in Congress, to approve of, and to authorize us to ratify the said Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union, KNOW YE that we the undersigned delegates, by virtue of the power and authority to us given for that purpose, do by these presents, in the name and in behalf of our respective constituents, fully and entirely ratify and confirm each and every of the said Articles of on federation and perpetual Union, and all and singular the matters and things therein contained: And we do further solemnly plight and engage the faith of our respective constituents, that they shall abide by the determinations of the United States in Congress assembled, on all questions, which by the said Confederation are submitted to them. And that the Articles thereof shall be inviolably observed by the States we respectively represent, and that the Union shall be perpetual.


In Witness

whereof we have hereunto set our hands in Congress. Done at Philadelphia in the state of Pennsylvania the ninth Day of July in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy-eight, and in the third year of the Independence of America.

On the part and behalf of the State of New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
John Wentworth Junr.
August 8th 1778

On the part and behalf of The State of Massachusetts Bay: John Hancock
Francis Dana
Samuel Adams
James Lovell
Elbridge Gerry
Samuel Holten

On the part and behalf of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations:
William Ellery
John Collins
Henry Marchant

On the part and behalf of the State of Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Titus Hosmer
Samuel Huntington
Andrew Adams
Oliver Wolcott

On the Part and Behalf of the State of New York:
James Duane
Wm Duer
Francis Lewis
Gouv Morris

On the Part and in Behalf of the State of New Jersey, November 26, 1778.
Jno Witherspoon
Nathaniel Scudder

On the part and behalf of the State of Pennsylvania:
Robt Morris
William Clingan
Daniel Roberdeau
Joseph Reed
John Bayard Smith
22nd July 1778

On the part and behalf of the State of Delaware:
Tho Mckean February 12, 1779
John Dickinson May 5th 1779
Nicholas Van Dyke

On the part and behalf of the State of Maryland:
John Hanson March 1 1781
Daniel Carroll Do

On the Part and Behalf of the State of Virginia:
Richard Henry Lee
Jno Harvie
John Banister
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Thomas Adams

On the part and Behalf of the State of No Carolina:
John Penn July 21St 1778
Corns Harnett
Jno Williams

On the part and behalf of the State of South Carolina:
Henry Laurens
Richd Hutson
William Henry Drayton
Thos Heyward Junr
Jno Mathews

On the part and behalf of the State of Georgia:
Jno Walton 24th July 1778
Edwd Telfair
Edwd Langworthy

Let's examine the contributions of Articles of Confederation to governing in America, by examining the enduring reasons for its establishment and the weakneses that led it to be replaced with a newer constitution...

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

The first article of the Articles of Confederation (1777) is only one line, giving the corporate name of the newly formed union: "The Style of this confederacy shall be 'The United States of America.'" In 1776, Americans were very familiar with the idea of a centralized government, for they were familiar with the British government, and even experienced with attempts to create a colonial union within America. Such attempts failed quickly, because Americans did not want any more limitations on their power from an American legislature any more than they wanted any from Great Britain. The simple aforementioned line from the Articles of Confederation, Article I, outlines the fundamental premise for its creation - to establish a confederacy - in which states maintain sovereignty and the power to manage their own affairs. The only purpose for the union between the states was "for their common defence, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare." (Articles of Confederation, Article III) The Articles of Confederation set the basic structure of American Government.

Although the Articles of Confederation formed a union of the states, it was difficult to describe where the different governing powers lied. Regulating financial and foreign affairs would be ineffective under such a decentralized government. Every significant decision or initiative of the government required unanimous agreement of the states. After the ratification of the Articles of Confederation, there were many attempts to amend them in a way as to strengthen the central government (Jensen, 1940). Many Americans did not believe that ordinary men could govern themselves without restraint. Some important leaders of the 18th century thought that the democracy that came as a result of the American Revolution was evil. There needed to be a strong central government capable of enforcing regulations and limiting the actions of the people.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION

The Articles of Confederation made the most contribution to modern governing by the impact of the political ideas and attitudes that the creators made very succinct in its creation. Some argue that the Articles of Confederation was a constitutional expression of the philosophy of the Declaration of Independence (Jensen, 1940), and that the Articles of Confederation was the closest to a democratic form of government ever created in the United States. Such ideas and attitudes were able to stay in the United States because the changes since the ratification of the Articles compelling our nation to adopt new constitutions were not in the ideas and attitudes themselves but rather in the balance of political power (Jensen, 1940).

Perhaps the most obvious of the political ideas and attitudes that Articles of Confederation emphasized was the power that the Articles gave to the states:

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. (Article II) Even today, "states' rights" and "decentralization" are matters that conservatives continue to push. The idea of rights reserved to the states is even integrated into the modern Constitution of the United States of America, in the tenth amendment.

The Articles also brought forth some significant political issues in the history of the United States. An example of this is representation. Under the Articles of Confederation, each state received one vote, regardless of size. This created such disagreement that the Great Compromise was created: a bicameral legislature consisting of an upper house, the Senate, with two votes per state, and a lower house, the House of Representatives, with votes based on population.

The trial and tribulation that proponents went through in attempting to amend the Articles of Confederation by getting unanimous votes from the states made the writers of the constitution realize the need to simplify the ability to amend the constitution in Article V. Under Article V, a vote of two-thirds of both houses of congress and three-quarters of the state legislatures could be used to add amendments to the Constitution (Feldmeth, 1998, 2). The ability to amend the constitution using a national convention was retained, due to its success in allowing the revision of the Articles of Confederation.

WEAKNESSES OF THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION

The Second Continental Congress was quite successful in limiting the power of the government. It was so successful that they essentially created a government with insufficient power to govern effectively. Without the power to do anything, Congress was unable to respond to national and international political problems. Unlike today, there was no judicial branch under the confederacy, so the government had virtually no control over legal issues, so they had to be resolved at the state level. But what happens when a criminal crosses over a state boundary - or a national boundary? This is only one of the major inadequacies of the Articles of Confederation.

Because the government is severely weakened by the Articles of Confederation, Congress also had no power to collect taxes without explicit agreement of all of the states, and could not regulate trade, both foreign and domestic. "Congress could only supplicate, it could not enforce …such a government could not operate successfully for any length of time." (Warren, 1947)
Congress had so little power that it could not even enforce treaties such as the Treaty of 1783, which was embarrassing because states started to have their own treaties with foreign countries. Britain was "refusing to negotiate with Congress, since it could not bind the individual states." (Bonwick, 1991) The inability to manage and regulate trade, and the lack of power to tax made it impossible to defend the borders of the nation from British and Spanish encroachment. The weakness of the United States had become apparent to foreign countries.

WHY THE CURRENT SYSTEM IS SUPERIOR

Aside from the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, there are a few advantages of the modern, more centralized system of government that come to benefit the individual citizen. Perhaps a centralized government goes against the idea of true democracy - perhaps states should be given more rights and the government should be less involved. However, it is apparent that the Articles of Confederation does not provide a viable form of government. Even with a more centralized government, the modern government employs many techniques to prevent the corruption of the democracy, such as horizontal division powers between the legislative and the two branches that were not present in the Articles of Confederation, the executive and judicial branches. In addition to the separation of powers, the government also has a system of checks and balances, to ensure that these powers are balanced. There is a vertical division of powers, otherwise known as federalism, where there are different levels of government, from the federal level all the way to district and county level, to ensure that every administrational layer has adequate competencies and a say in the affairs in the levels on top of it.

CONCULUSION

Regardless of the fact that the Articles of Confederation failed, and the fact that they were weak, the enduring causes that caused its creation in 1777 and causes for its eventual failure still had a profound impact on governing in America by compelling it to replace it with a more superior form of government in the Constitution of the United States of America. Some of the impact of the Articles of Confederation was obvious - the idea of state retention of rights. However, some of the impact was on a larger scale - as stated in the first article of the Articles of Confederation, it created the idea of a United States of America.

PRIMARY REFERENCES

The Articles of Confederation
The Constitution of the United States of America

SECONDARY REFERENCES

Bonwick C. (1991). The American Revolution. London, England: Macmillian
Feldmeth, G. (1998). Articles of Confederation vs. the Constitution. (online) Available: http://home.earthlink.net/~gfeldmeth/USHistory.html. (May 12, 1998)

Jensen, M. (1940). The Articles of Confederation: An interpretation of the social-constitutional history of the American Revolution 1774-1781. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press.

Jensen, M. (1964). The Making of the American Constitution. Princeton, NJ: D. Van Nostrand Company.

Warren, C. (1947). The Making of the Constitution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press

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