THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION It was a grand and heroic thing to declare independence from the oppressive government of George III; but a great deed carries with it great consequences and new duties. When the people of the American colonies threw off the English government, they also threw off the protection of that government. Had a foreign power chanced to attack the colonies. at this time, the colonies would have been helpless before the attack; for there was for some weeks no fixed form of government; and certainly England would not have come to their rescue, unless, indeed, she saw in their helplessness an opportunity to reinstate her power over the colonies. Fortunately, no foreign power at the time cared to take advantage of the weakness of the colonies; nevertheless, the wisest statesmen in the colonies realized that some form of central government must be formed and that right speedily. Should war follow this Declaration of Independence, and it seemed but reasonable that it should, there would come up many matters which a central government only would have authority to settle. There would arise need to raise an army, for example; need to raise money for equipment, and a central authority to appoint officers. Indeed, a thousand things would come up which separate and jealous states could never properly attend to, since no one state had authority over any other state. A delegation of leading statesmen from each colony, then, was sent to Philadelphia, to prepare some form of document which should serve temporarily, at least, as a basis of Confederation. On the twelfth of July, then, only eight days after the Declaration, these delegates reported that they had formed a plan for Confederation and accordingly the following Articles of Confederation were drawn up and presented to the states for ratification.° These Articles were accepted by the states-to stand as the Government of the United States of America for the time being. TOPICS FOR CLASS RESEARCH Duties of a Protective Government such as England was Duties of a colony to a Protective Government. (Compare Meaning of the word Ratification. Assign an "article" to each pupil and discuss it during the class period. How did the States receive the Articles of Confederation i.e., with enthusiasm, tolerance, or because a necessity of the crisis? ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, We, the undersigned, Delegates of the States affixed to our names, send greeting: Whereas the delegates of the United States of America in Congress assembled, did, on the fifteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventyseven, and in the second year of the Independence of America, agree to certain Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, between the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, in the words following, viz.: Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. ARTICLE I. The style of this Confederacy shall be, "The United States of America." ART. II. Each State retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every power, jurisdiction and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled. ART. III. The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever. ART. IV. The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse among the people of the different States in this Union, the free inhabitants of each of these States -paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice excepted shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several States; and the people of each State shall have free ingress and regress to and from any other State, and shall enjoy therein all the privileges of trade and commerce, subject to the same duties, impositions, and restrictions as the inhabitants thereof respectively: provided that such restrictions shall not extend so far as to prevent the removal of property imported into any State, to any other State of which the owner is an inhabitant; provided also, that no imposition, duties, or restriction shall be laid by any State on the property of the United States or either of them. If any person guilty of, or charged with, treason, felony, or other high misdemeanor in any State shall flee from justice and be found in any of the United States, he shall, upon demand of the governor or executive power of the State from which he fled, be delivered up and removed to the State having jurisdiction of his offense. Full faith and credit shall be given in each of these States to the records, acts, and judicial procedings of the courts and magistrates of every other State. ART. V. For the more convenient management of the general interests of the United States, delegates shall be annually appointed in such manner as the Legislature of each State shall direct, to meet in Congress on the first Monday in November, in every year, with a power reserved to each State to recall its delegates, or any of them, at any time within the year, and to send others in their stead for the remainder of the year. No State shall be represented in Congress by less than two, nor by more than seven members; and no person shall be capable of being a delegate for more than three years in any term of six years; nor shall any person, being a delegate, be capable of holding any office under the United States, for which he, or another for his benefit, receives any salary, fees, or emolument of any kind. Each State shall maintain its own delegates in any meeting of the States and while they act as members of the Committee the States. In determining questions in the United States in Congress assembled, each State shall have one vote. Freedom of speech and debate in Congress shall not be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Congress; and the members of Congress shall be protected in their persons from arrests and imprisonments during the time of their going to and from, and attendance on, Congress, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace. ART. VI. - No State, without the consent of the United States in Congress assembled, shall send any embassy, to, or receive any embassy from, or enter into any conference, agreement, alliance, or treaty with, any king, prince, or state; nor shall any person holding any office of profit or trust under the United States, or any of them, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title of any kind whatever from any king, prince, or foreign state; nor shall the United States in Congress assembled, or any of them, grant any title of nobility. No two or more States shall enter into any treaty, confederation, or alliance whatever between them, without the consent of the United States in Congress assembled, specifying accurately the purposes for which the same is to be entered into, and how long it shall continue. No State shall lay any imposts or duties which may interfere with any stipulations in treaties entered into by the United States in Congress assembled, with any king, prince, or state, in pursuance of any treaties already proposed by Congress to the courts of France and Spain. No vessels of war shall be kept up in time of peace by any State, except such number only as shall be deemed necessary by the United States in Congress assembled, for the defense of |