Articles of Confederation Ratified
Drafted by the Second Continental Congress from 1776 and finally ratified on 1 March 1781 — delayed four years by disputes over western land claims — the Articles of Confederation created the first framework for national government in the United States. Under the Articles, the United States was a 'firm league of friendship' of thirteen sovereign states, each retaining its sovereignty and independence. The unicameral Congress had authority over war and peace, foreign affairs, and coinage, but critically lacked the power to levy taxes or regulate interstate commerce; it could only request funds from state governments, which were free to ignore the request. The structural weakness was fiscal: Congress financed the Revolutionary War through loans, continental currency that inflated catastrophically, and French subsidies, but had no independent revenue source to service its debts or fund ongoing operations. By 1786–87, the federal government was effectively bankrupt, unable to pay its soldiers' back pay, service its war debt, or respond meaningfully to Shays' Rebellion in Massachusetts. These failures were the practical argument for the Constitutional Convention of 1787, which replaced the Articles with a framework that gave the central government independent taxing power, commerce regulation, and a separate executive.
- Year: 1781 CE
- Category: Political
