The Articles of Confederation were ratified by all thirteen states in 1781.
The Articles served as the United States’ first written constitution. The Continental Congress approved the text in 1777, but unanimous state approval took several years because states disputed western land claims. Maryland was the final state to ratify, doing so on March 1, 1781.
Under the Articles, Congress could conduct diplomacy, declare war, and manage western territories, but it had no independent power to tax individuals or regulate interstate commerce. The system helped coordinate the Revolutionary War and the early republic, yet its financial and administrative weaknesses became increasingly clear after the war.
The Constitution replaced the Articles after the Constitutional Convention of 1787. A common mix-up is treating 1777 as the ratification year; that was the year Congress submitted the Articles to the states. The 1781 completion of ratification makes the Articles an important predecessor to the government whose long history America250 surveys.