The United States ratified the Articles of Confederation on March 1, 1781, making them the nation’s first constitution.
The Articles created a “firm league of friendship” among the states and established a Congress with limited central powers. Congress could conduct diplomacy, declare war, manage western territories, and borrow money, but it could not directly tax individuals or regulate interstate commerce. Each state received one vote, regardless of population.
Maryland’s delayed approval had held up full ratification because the state wanted stronger guarantees about western lands. Once Maryland ratified, the Articles took effect and provided a legal framework during the final years of the Revolutionary War and the early national period.
The system’s weaknesses eventually encouraged calls for reform. The Constitutional Convention met in 1787 and produced the United States Constitution, which replaced the Articles after ratification. The Articles therefore belong to the transition between independence and the federal government created under the Constitution.