John Dickinson wrote the first draft of the Articles of Confederation, an earlier national framework included in America250 history.
The Continental Congress appointed a committee in June 1776 to prepare a plan for a union among the states. Dickinson, a delegate from Delaware and Pennsylvania, produced the first draft. Congress then debated and revised it extensively.
The Articles were approved by Congress in 1777, but unanimous state ratification took several years. Maryland's approval in 1781 allowed the Articles to take effect as the first written constitution of the United States.
The Articles created a loose confederation in which the states retained substantial power. Congress could conduct diplomacy and manage war, but it lacked an independent power to tax individuals or regulate interstate commerce. The weaknesses of this system helped prompt the Constitutional Convention of 1787.