Articles of Confederation

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Articles of Confederation

ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION
At the same time that Jefferson was drafting the Declaration,  members of the Continental Congress were developing a new form of government for  the confederated colonies. On 7 June 1776, in addition to the resolution for   independence, Richard Henry Lee moved that "a plan of confederation be prepared  and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and  approbation."(37) On 12 June, one delegate from each colony was chosen to sit on  a committee "to prepare and digest the form of confederation."(38) The committee  members were: Samuel Adams, Josiah Bartlett, John Dickinson (chairman), Button  Gwinnett, Joseph Hewes, Stephen Hopkins, Robert R. Livingston, Thomas McKean,  Thomas Nelson, Edward Rutledge, Roger Sherman, and  Thomas Stone. Francis  Hopkinson was added to the committee on 28 June.
John Dickinson was chosen to draft the document outlining a plan for  confederation. It had  been almost a decade since the publication of his Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British  Colonies. Although Dickinson was not ready to support colonial independence,  his knowledge of the institutions of government made him the appropriate choice  to draft the plan of union. On 12 July, a draft of the "Articles of   confederation and perpetual union" in Dickinson's hand was presented and read  before Congress. Dickinson was absent from Congress on 12 July as he was called  into temporary  service for the Continental Army.(39)
The previous July, Benjamin Franklin presented to the Committee of the Whole  a sketch of a plan for a permanent union of the  colonies. Franklin's plan was  endorsed by Charles Thomson: "Sketch of Articles of Confederation. July '75."  Although Franklin's plan for a confederation was at first  rejected, a large part  of his plan was used by Dickinson and the committee chosen to draft the Articles  of Confederation.(40) After Dickinson's rough draft of the Articles was read  on  12 July 1776, it was resolved that "eighty copies, and no more, of the  confederation, as brought in by the committee, be immediately printed, and  deposited with the  secretary, who shall deliver one copy to each member."(41)  The printers, Philadelphians John Dunlap and David C. Claypoole, and all members  of Congress were instructed not to share with anyone the contents of the plan of  confederation.(42)
Beginning on 22 July, the Articles were discussed in the Committee of the  Whole. A part of every day  for the next twenty days was devoted to consideration  of the Articles. Secretary Charles Thomson annotated and amended John  Dickinson's manuscript draft during the latter's absence from the discussions of  the Articles in Congress.(43)
The debates concerning the Articles were prolonged over questions regarding  representation in Congress, western  land boundaries, and apportionment of  taxation. On 20 August, after a week of neglect, the Articles were once again  taken up in the Committee of the Whole. With the preliminary modifications made  to the Articles, Congress ordered that eighty copies of the Articles of  Confederation, as reported from the committee of the whole, be printed under the  same injunctions as the former articles were printed, and delivered to the  members under the like restrictions as formerly.(44)
Dunlap and Claypoole printed the revised Articles to include all notations  and changes made since the 12 July printing.(45)
 
Military concerns associated with the Revolutionary War, lack of  representatives  attending Congress, and the relocation of Congress from  Philadelphia to Baltimore commanded the attention of the Continental Congress  and prevented continual debate on the Articles.  Subsequently, consideration of  the Articles was tabled until 8 April 1777, when it was decided that two days a  week would be devoted to discussion of the Articles. Debate over the  Articles  continued as the members of Congress discussed each issue separately. In an  effort to settle all issues in a timely manner, a motion was made to consider  the Articles as a part of each day's business. On 2 September, the motion was  voted down and Congress continued to devote two days a week to matters of  confederation.
With the continued threat of British occupation of Philadelphia, Congress was  once again forced to relocate. On 19 September, members of Congress departed  Philadelphia and nine days later reconvened in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and then  moved the following day to York. On 8 October, Congress resumed discussion on  the Articles and the members debated the details of  confederation daily during  October and November.
On 10 November, a committee of three was appointed to consider the Articles  as they existed and report any  additional amendments. James Duane, Richard Law,  and Richard Henry Lee were selected for this task. The following day, the three  men suggested seven additions, of which only a few were incorporated into the  final document.(46)
On 13 November, James Duane, Richard Henry Lee, and James Lovell were  appointed to revise and arrange the Articles.  Lee was employed to create a  circular letter to be dispatched to the states with the Articles. On 15  November, the revised Articles of Confederation was recorded in the "Journal of  the Continental Congress." At the conclusion of the day, it was ordered that  "the committee appointed to revise and arrange the articles of confederation,  have three hundred copies printed and lodged with the secretary."(47) The  Articles of Confederation were printed by Francis Bailey in Lancaster,  Pennsylvania (see Appendix F for a list of extant  printed copies of the Articles of Confederation). The committee appointed to  arrange the Articles and prepare a circular letter presented the letter in  Congress on 17 November. In an effort to secure ratification, Richard Henry Lee  offered an apology to the states for the delay of this plan for confederation  and wrote, "after the most careful enquiry and the fullest information, this is  proposed as the best which could be adapted to the circumstances of  all."(48)
The printed copies of the Articles of Confederation, in the form of a  twenty-six page pamphlet, were delivered to the president of Congress on 28  November. Henry  Laurens allocated eighteen copies to the delegates of each State  and reserved the rest for himself.(49) With each state receiving only eighteen  copies of the Articles of Confederation, printers in many states were prompted  to create their own copies of the document. In the fall of 1777, the Articles  were printed in New London, Connecticut; Annapolis,  Maryland; Boston,  Massachusetts; Exeter, New Hampshire; Providence, Rhode Island; Williamsburg,  Virginia and Newbern, North Carolina. In the Park collection is a copy of the  Articles of Confederation printed in 1777 by Boston printer, John Gill.(50)
 
In the circular letter accompanying the Articles, Congress asked the states  to take action on the Articles by 10 March 1778. The Articles were not approved  until 1 March 1781, when Maryland gave its assent. The Articles of Confederation  were ordered to be engrossed on 26 June  1778. The following day, the engrossed  copy was laid before Congress and found incorrect, and a second engrossed copy  was ordered. On 9 July, the second engrossed copy was presented  before Congress  and signed by all those present. The signed Articles are untitled with the  heading endorsed on the outside of the document.(51)

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