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. The Stile of this confederacy shall be "The United States of America."Įach 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. In the 1780s–the so-called Critical Period–state actions powerfully affected politics and economic life.Īrticles 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. This provision, like many in the Articles, indicated that powerful provincial loyalties and suspicions of central authority persisted. To amend the Articles, the legislatures of all thirteen states would have to agree. Movement across state lines was not to be restricted.
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And the free inhabitants of each state were to enjoy the “privileges and immunities of free citizens” of the others. The Articles also required each state to extend “full faith and credit” to the judicial proceedings of the others. Decisions on certain specified matters–making war, entering treaties, regulating coinage, for example–required the assent of nine states in Congress, and all others required a majority.Īlthough the states remained sovereign and independent, no state was to impose restrictions on the trade or the movement of citizens of another state not imposed on its own. Additionally, there were several issues between states that were not settled with ratification: A disagreement over the appointment of taxes forecast the division over slavery in the Constitutional Convention.īut Congress would exercise considerable powers: it was given jurisdiction over foreign relations with the authority to make treaties and alliances it could make war and peace, maintain an army and navy, coin money, establish a postal service and manage Indian affairs it could establish admiralty courts and it would serve as the last resort on appeal of disputes between the states. There was no executive and no judiciary, two of the three branches of government we have today to act as a system of checks and balances. The weakness of the Articles of Confederation was that Congress was not strong enough to enforce laws or raise taxes, making it difficult for the new nation to repay their debts from the Revolutionary War. Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation Virginia’s action persuaded Maryland to ratify the Articles, which went into effect on March 1, 1781. Maryland also supported the demands because nearby Virginia would clearly dominate its neighbor should its claims be accepted.Įventually Thomas Jefferson persuaded his state to yield its claims to the West, provided that the speculators’ demands were rejected and the West was divided into new states, which would be admitted into the Union on the basis of equality with the old. Land speculators in Maryland and these other “landless states” insisted that the West belonged to the United States, and they urged Congress to honor their claims to western lands. The charters of Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Rhode Island confined those states to a few hundred miles of the Atlantic. However, the central government lacked the ability to levy taxes and regulate commerce, issues that led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 for the creation of new federal laws under The United States Constitution. Significantly, The Articles of Confederation named the new nation “The United States of America.” Congress was given the authority to make treaties and alliances, maintain armed forces and coin money. Under these articles, the states remained sovereign and independent, with Congress serving as the last resort on appeal of disputes. Written in 1777 and stemming from wartime urgency, its progress was slowed by fears of central authority and extensive land claims by states. The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was the first written constitution of the United States. Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.Ratification of the Articles of Confederation.
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