Three Documents for the New Government

Thomas Paine’s remonstrations against the oppressive monarchy led not only to the popular uprising and a formal Declaration of Independence but also to the first of three documents that shaped a new government, the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.  Adopted in 1777 and ratified by delegates from each of 13 colonies, the Articles of Confederation organized a “Perpetual Union” among the 13 states that had declared independence from Great Britain.  The Articles were in effect from 1781 to 1789, when they were superseded by the new Constitution. 

The Articles of Confederation established a national legislature with authority to raise an army and navy, declare war and negotiate treaties, borrow and coin money, run a postal system, and handle relations with Native Americans.  Each state could send two delegates to Congress but had only one vote.  Delegates from seven of the 13 states represented a quorum necessary to conduct business.  Delegates were elected for one-year terms and could not serve for more than three years in any six-year period.  The single-body Congress under the Articles was the entire national government.  There were no executive or judicial branches.  Under the Articles, the president of the Continental Congress was simply the presiding officer of the legislature and had no executive functions.

Read a whole lot more in Threes, Chapter 7, “Threes in Government and Politics”