What was the name of the 1777 plan that first organized the United States as a confederation?

The Articles of Confederation were the 1777 plan that first organized the United States as a confederation.

The Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles on November 15, 1777, during the Revolutionary War. They created a league of states with a deliberately weak central government and became effective after Maryland supplied the final ratification on March 1, 1781.

Under the Articles, Congress could conduct diplomacy, declare war, and manage western territories, but it could not directly tax individuals or regulate interstate commerce. Each state had one vote in Congress regardless of population.

The system helped coordinate the war and the early republic but proved difficult to operate. The Constitution replaced the Articles in 1789, creating a stronger federal government with separate executive and judicial branches.