The Articles of Confederation took effect on March 1, 1781.
The Articles were the first frame of government for the United States. The Second Continental Congress finalized them on November 15, 1777, but they did not become operative until all 13 states had ratified them. Maryland was the final state to approve the document, ending a process that had taken nearly three and a half years.
Under the Articles, the states retained most of their sovereignty, while Congress handled areas such as war, diplomacy, and relations among the states. The national government had no separate executive branch and lacked the broad power to tax individuals directly. Congress instead relied heavily on state contributions.
The Articles provided an important wartime and postwar framework, but their weaknesses helped prompt the Constitutional Convention of 1787. The Constitution replaced them as the national framework on March 4, 1789. The Articles’ effective date is sometimes confused with their drafting date in 1777 or the Constitution’s signing date in 1787.