Articles of Confederation Summary

Not many people know this, but the Articles of Confederation was used as the first constitution of the United States of America. It was used as the supreme law for a brief period in the American history between 1st March 1781 to 4th March 1789. Even though the Articles were written by the same people who wrote the Constitution, you can see a great deal of difference between the two.

Summary of the Articles of Confederation

The Articles was a five page written agreement, which laid the guidelines of how the national government of America would function. The preamble of the Articles stated that all the signatories "agree to certain Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union" between the thirteen original states. It had a total of thirteen articles which formed the guidelines for the functioning of then Federal government along with a conclusion and a signatory section for the states to sign. Given below is the summary of these 13 Articles which will give you brief information on each of them with special emphasis on what they imply.

• Article I: It gave the new confederacy a name - the 'United States of America', which is followed even today.
• Article II: It gave all the states sovereignty, freedom, independence, alongside all those powers which were not specifically given to the national government.
• Article III: It implied that the different states should come together to facilitate common defense, secure each others liberties and work for each others welfare.
• Article IV: It granted the freedom of movement to all the citizens of the nation as a whole which allowed people to move freely between the states and also entitled them to get the rights established by the particular state. It also spoke about the need of respecting each others laws, and a clause to extradite criminals.
• Article V: It spoke about the national interests of the United States and asked each state to send delegates to discuss the same in the Congress. It gave each state one vote in Congress and also restricted the period for which a person would serve as a delegate. It also gave the members of Congress the power of free speech and ruled out their arrests it wasn't for some serious reasons such as treason or felony.
• Article VI: It put some restrictions on the states and disallowed them from getting into any sort of treaty or alliance with each other or waging a war without the consent of the Congress. It also disallowed the states from keeping a standing army, but did give them permission to maintain the state militia.
• Article VII: It gave the state legislature the power of appointing all officers ranked colonel and above whenever the states were to raise an army for the purpose of self defense.
• Article VIII: It stated that each state was to pay a particular sum of money - in proportion to the total land area of that state, to the national treasury and all the national expenses including war costs were to be deducted from this common treasury.
• Article IX: It highlighted all the powers given to the Congress of the Confederation including the right to wage war and make peace, govern army and navy, enter into treaties and alliances, settle dispute between states, regulate the value of coins, etc.
• Article X: It laid the guidelines for the formation of an executive committee which would work when the Congress was not in session.
• Article XI: It stated that the approval of nine of the thirteen original states was mandatory to include a new state in the Union.
• Article XII: It declared that America takes full responsibility for all debts which were incurred before the Articles came into existence.
• Article XIII: It declared that it would be mandatory for all the states to abide by the decisions made by the Congress of the Confederation. It also declared that the Union would be perpetual. Most important of all, it put forth the stipulation that if any changes were to be made to the Articles of the Confederation it would require the approval of Congress and ratification by the other states.

Historians are of the opinion that this document had its own strengths and weaknesses. That it brought thirteen states which were pitched against each other on a common platform was its greatest strength. On the other hand, its weaknesses revolved around the fact that they gave states more power as compared to national government and reduced the latter to a mere spectator.

If the strengths and weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation are weighed against each other, you notice that its problems outweighed its strengths with ease, and that explains why it was eventually replaced by the U.S. Constitution - which is considered to be the supreme law in USA as of today.