After winning independence from Great Britain in the Revolutionary War, the new country, the United States, needed to fashion some form of governmental system. The Articles of Confederation represents the first constitution of the United States. The Articles were in force from March 1, 1781, to June 21, 1788, when the present Constitution of the United States went into effect (Articles of Confederation, Encarta).
The Articles were written in 1777 during the early part of the American Revolution by a committee of the Second Continental Congress of the 13 colonies. The head of the committee, John Dickinson, presented a report on the proposed articles to the Congress on July 12, 1776, eight days after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He initially proposed a strong central government, with control over the western lands, equal representation for the states, and the power to levy taxes (Articles of Confederation, Encarta).
Because of the fear that resulted from the colonial experience under the centralized government of Great Britain, the 13 states feared a powerful central government and had been careful to give the states as much independence as possible, while also explicitly stating the limited functions of the federal government (Articles of Confederation, 2003, Ben’s Guide). Consequently, they changed Dickinson’s proposed articles drastically in November 1777.
Although the Continental Congress had been careful to give the states as much independence as possible and to specify the limited functions of the federal government, but despite these precautions, several years passed before all the states ratified the articles ((Articles of Confederation, Encarta). The delay was the result of such factors of preoccupation with the Revolutionary War and disagreements among the 13 states. These disagreements included quarrels over boundary lines, conflicting decisions by state courts, differing tariff laws, and trade restrictions between states...................
