Adrian+B

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. []
 * State || Year[[file:Washingon test.docx]] ||
 * Delaware || Dec. 7, 1787 ||
 * Pennsylvania || five days later after Delaware ||
 * New Jersey || Dec. 18, 1787 ||
 * Geogia || two weeks later ||
 * Connecticut || Jan.9, 1788 ||
 * Massachusetts || in early Jan. 1788 ||
 * Maryland || April 28, 1788 ||
 * South Carolina || May 23 ||
 * New Hampsire || June 21 ||
 * Virginia || June 25, 1788 ||
 * New York || July 26, 1788 ||
 * Rhode Island || May 1790 ||
 * North Carolina || Nov. 1789 ||

Articles of Confederation are ratified
On this day in 1781, the Articles of Confederation are finally ratified. The Articles were signed by Congress and sent to the individual states for ratification on November 15, 1777, after 16 months of debate. Bickering over land claims between Virginia and Maryland delayed final ratification for almost four more years. Maryland finally approved the Articles on March 1, 1781, affirming the Articles as the outline of the official government of the United States. The nation was guided by the Articles of Confederation until the implementation of the current U.S. Constitution in 1789. The critical distinction between the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution —the primacy of the states under the Articles--is best understood by comparing the following lines. The Articles of Confederation begin: “To all to whom these Present shall come, we the undersigned Delegates of the States…” By contrast, the Constitution begins: “We the People of the United States…do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” The predominance of the states under the Articles of Confederation is made even more explicit by the claims of Article II: “Each 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.” Less than five years after the ratification of the Articles of Confederation, enough leading Americans decided that the system was inadequate to the task of governance that they peacefully overthrew their second government in just over 20 years. The difference between a collection of sovereign states forming a confederation and a federal government created by a sovereign people lay at the heart of debate as the new American people decided what form their government would take. Between 1776 and 1787, Americans went from living under a sovereign king, to living in sovereign states, to becoming a sovereign people. That transformation defined the American Revolution.