The Congress of the United States shall have power to adjourn to any time within the year, and to any place within the United States, so that no period of adjournment be for a longer duration than the space of six months, and shall publish the journal of their proceedings monthly, except such parts thereof relating to treaties, alliances, or military operations as in their judgment requires secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the delegates of each State, on any question, shall be entered on the journal when it is desired by any delegate; and the delegates of a State, or any of them, at his or their request, shall be furnished with a transcript of the said journal except such parts as are above excepted, to lay before the Legislatures of the several States. ART. X. The Committee of the States, or any nine of them, shall be authorized to execute, in the recess of Congress, such of the powers of Congress as the United States in Congress assembled, by the consent of nine States, shall, from time to time, think expedient to vest them with; provided that no power be delegated to the said Committee, for the exercise of which, by the Articles of Confederation, the voice of nine States in the Congress of the United States assembled is requisite. ART. XI. - Canada, acceding to this Confederation, and joining in the measures of the United States, shall be admitted into, and entitled to all the advantages of this Union; but no other colony shall be admitted into the same, unless such admission be agreed to by nine States. ART. XII. — All bills of credit emitted, moneys borrowed, and debts contracted by or under the authority of Congress, before the assembling of the United States, in pursuance of the present Confederation, shall be deemed and considered as a charge against the United States, for payment and satisfaction whereof the said United States and the public faith are hereby solemnly pledged. ART. XIII. — Every State shall abide by the determinations of the United States in Congress assembled, on all questions which by this Confederation are submitted to them. And the articles of this Confederation shall be inviolably observed by every State, and the Union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them, unless such alteration be agreed to in a Congress of the United States, and be afterwards confirmed by the Legislatures of every State. AND WHEREAS, it hath pleased the great Governor of the world to incline the hearts of the Legislatures we respectively represent in Congress to approve of, and to authorize us to ratify, the said Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union, know ye, that we, the undersigned delegates, by virtue of the power and authority to us given for that purpose, do, by these presents, in the name and in behalf of our respective constituents, fully and entirely ratify and confirm each and every of the said Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union, and all and singular the matters and things therein contained. And we do further solemnly plight and engage the faith of our respective constituents, that they shall abide by the determinations of the United States in Congress assembled, on all questions which by the said Confederation are submitted to them; and that the articles thereof shall be inviolably observed by the States we respectively represent, and that the Union shall be perpetual. In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands in Congress. Done at Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, the ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, and in the third year of the independence of America. On the part and behalf of the State of New Hampshire JOSIAH BARTLETT, JOHN WENTWORTH, JR. On the part and behalf of the State of Massachusetts Bay On the part and behalf of the State of Rhode Island, and Providence Plantations WILLIAM ELLERY, HENRY MARCHANT, JOHN COLLINS. On the part and behalf of the State of Connecticut ROGER SHERMAN, SAMUEL HUNTINGTON, OLIVER WOLCOTT, TITUS HOSMER, ANDREW ADAMS. On the part and behalf of the State of New York JAMES DUANE, FRANCIS LEWIS, WILLIAM DUER, GOUVERNEUR MORRIS. On the part and in behalf of the State of New Jersey, Nov. 26, 1778 JOHN WITHERSPOON, NATHANIEL SCUDDER. On the part and behalf of the State of Pennsylvania On the part and behalf of the State of Delaware THOMAS M'KEAN, Feb. 12, 1779. JOHN DICKINSON, May 5, 1779. NICHOLAS VANDYKE, On the part and behalf of the State of Maryland JOHN HANSON, DANIEL CARROLL, On the part and behalf of the State of Virginia RICHARD HENRY LEE, JOHN BANISTER, THOMAS ADAMS JOHN HARVIE FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE. On the part and behalf of the State of North Carolina. JOHN PENN, July 21, 1778. CORNELIUS HARTNETT. JOHN WILLIAMS. On the part and behalf of the State of South Carolina HENRY LAURENS, WILLIAM HENRY DRAYTON, JOHN MATHEWS, RICHARD HUTSON, THOMAS HAYWARD, JR. On the part and behalf of the State of Georgia JOHN WALTON, July 24, 1778. EDWARD TELFAIR, EDWARD LANGWORTHY. THE WEAKNESS OF THE ARTICLES Now these Articles were very unsatisfactory in many particulars. The framers of the document realized this at the time, but it was the best that they could do, because of the fear of a central government and of the jealousy and suspicion that existed between the colonies, each fearful lest the other in some way get too much power. The colonists had for a long time been most distrustful and suspicious of each other, although during the recent wrangles over the Stamp Act and other Acts of Parliament, they had stood shoulder to shoulder in a common grievance. They would stand together in the war that they were sure must follow; and still, when it came to forming a central government made up of representatives from each colony, the jealousy was intense lest one colony secure some power which would be of disadvantage to another. Under these conditions, then, we can readily understand that it was no easy thing for these delegates to draw up a document which would satisfy all of the colonies. No sooner would one delegate offer a resolution, than another would oppose it, fearful lest his own constituency at home blame him for it on the ground that in some way he had not protected the interests of his home colony. Because of these controversies, much time was neces |