Elizabeth+C.



The **Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union**, customarily referred to as the **Articles of Confederation**, was the first constitution of the United States of America and legally established the union of the states. The Second Continental Congress appointed a committee to draft the Articles in June 1776 and sent the draft to the states for ratification in November 1777. The ratification process was completed in March 1781, legally federating the sovereign and independent states, already cooperating through the Continental Congress, into a new federation styled the "United States of America". Under the Articles the states retained sovereignty over all governmental functions not specifically relinquished to the central government

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1. The Stile of this Confederacy shall be "The United States of America."

2. Each state retains its advantage, freedom, and independence, and every power, administration, and right

6.adjoining 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

7. All bills of or monies borrowed and debts contracted by, or under the authority of Congress shall be considered as a charge against the United States 5. The Committee of the States, or any nine of them, shall be authorized to meet, in the recess of Congress

3. States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, against all force offered, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever.