Manuscript
Page: 1

Articles of Confederation

Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Date:

1781

About this artifact

As soon as the colonies declared their independence from Great Britain, the Second Continental Congress began drafting these Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union. All 13 states had ratified the Articles by 1781. The Confederation Congress negotiated the peace treaty ending the American Revolution in 1783, and enacted the Northwest Ordinance in 1787 that placed the western territories under federal control and established the means by which new states would be admitted to the United States. The Articles remained in effect until 1789, when they were succeeded by the United States Constitution.