Articles of Confederation

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. 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. Dickinson initially proposed a strong central government, with control over the western lands, equal representation for the states, and the power to impose taxes. It took several years for the all states to ratify the document, because of the fear of strong control of the central government.