Articles of Confederation (1777) (2023)

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To all to whom these gifts are bestowed, we, the undersigned delegates of the states assigned to our names, send a greeting. While the delegates of the United States of America assembled in Congress, on the fifteenth of November in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven and in the second year of America's independence, consented to certain articles of confederation and perpetual union between the states of Newhampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhodisland and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia in the following words, viz. "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union among the States of Newhampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhodisland and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

Article I. The style of this Confederation shall be "The United States of America."

Article II. Each State retains its sovereignty, liberty, and independence, and all power, jurisdiction, and right not expressly delegated to the United States by this Confederation shall be assembled in Congress.

Article III. The said States hereby individually enter into a firm alliance of friendship for their common defence, the security of their liberties and their mutual and general welfare, pledging to assist one another against any proposed violence or attack upon them or any one of them of religion, sovereignty, commerce or any other pretext.

Article IV. In order to better secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse among the peoples of the various States in this Union, the free residents of each of these States, with the exception of the poor, vagabonds and refugees, are entitled to all the privileges and immunities of free citizens in the different states; and the people of any State shall have free entry and retreat into and from every other State, and enjoy all the privileges of commerce and trade there, subject to the same duties, restrictions and restrictions as the respective residents, provided that such restrictions do not extend so far that it prevents the removal of property imported into one state to another state of which the owner is a resident; provided also that no state imposes, imposes duties or restrictions on property of the United States or any of them.

If a person guilty of, or charged with, a treason, felony, or other serious misdemeanor in any state flees justice and is found in any of the United States, he or she must do so at the request of the governor or the executive branch of the state from whom he fled and be taken to the state responsible for his crime.

In each of these states full reliance and credit is to be placed on the records, acts and judicial proceedings of the courts and magistrates of every other state.

Article V. For the more convenient administration of the general interests of the United States, delegates shall be appointed annually in such manner as the legislature of each state shall meet, meeting in Congress each year on the first Monday in November, a power reserved to each state, its to recall delegates or one of them at any time during the year and to send others in their place for the remainder of the year.

No State shall be represented in Congress by fewer than two and not more than seven members; and no person shall be delegated for more than three years in any six-year term; nor may any person hold any office as a delegate in the United States for which he or any other person receives salary, fees or other emoluments for his benefit.

Each State has to entertain its own delegates at a States Meeting, and while they serve as members of the States Committee.

When deciding issues in the United States, each state has one vote in the assembled Congress.

Freedom of speech and debate in Congress shall not be challenged or questioned in any court of law or placed outside of Congress, and Members of Congress shall be personally protected from arrest and imprisonment while going about their participation in Congress, except in the case of treason, crime or breach of the peace.

Article VI. No State shall send or receive an embassy from any king, prince or state, or enter into any conference, agreement, alliance or treaty with any king, prince or state, without the consent of the United States assembled in Congress; nor may any person holding any office of profit or trust under the United States or any of them accept any gift, emolument, office or title of any kind from a king, prince or foreign state; Nor shall the United States assembled in Congress confer any title of peerage on any of them.

No two or more States shall enter into any treaty, confederation, or alliance of any kind between them without the consent of the United States, assembled in Congress, specifying the purposes for which they are to be entered into, and how long they should continue to apply.

No State may impose on the courts any duty or tariff which might prejudice provisions in treaties made by the United States in Congress with a king, prince or State in accordance with treaties already proposed by Congress of France and Spain.

In time of peace, ships of war shall not be maintained by any State except such number as may be thought necessary by the United States assembled in Congress for the defense of that State or its commerce; Also, in time of peace, no military force shall be maintained by any State except such number as may be assembled in Congress, in the judgment of the United States, and deemed necessary to garrison the forts necessary for the defense of such condition; but every State shall always maintain a well-regulated and disciplined militia, adequately armed and accounted for, and shall provide and keep ready at all times in public camps a fair number of field guns and tents, and a fair quantity of arms, ammunition, and camp equipment.

No state may participate in a war without the consent of the United States in Congress, unless that state is actually under attack by enemies or has received specific advice on a resolution passed by a Native American nation to to invade that state, and the danger is so imminent that no delay can be admitted until the United States Congress can beconsulted. No State shall issue orders to ships or ships of war, nor letters of marque or reprisal, except after a declaration of war by the United States assembled in Congress, and then only against the Kingdom, or State and subjects thereof, against on which war has been declared, and under such regulations as shall be determined by the United States assembled in Congress, unless such State be infested by pirates, in which case ships of war may be fitted out for the occasion and retained so long as the Danger persists or until the United States Congress decides oth else.

Article VII. When land forces are raised by a State for the common defense, all officers of the rank of colonel or below shall be appointed by the legislature of each State by which such forces are to be raised, or in such manner as that state directs it, and all vacancies are filled by the state that first made the appointment.

Article VIII. All expenses of war and all other expenditures required for the common defense or general welfare, and authorized by the United States assembled in Congress, shall be met from a common treasury provided by the individual States in proportion to the value of the whole Land in any State granted to or surveyed for any person, as such land and the buildings and improvements thereon are valued according to the method which the United States assembles in Congress from time to time, direct and appoint. Taxes on the payment of that portion shall be established and collected by the authority and direction of the legislatures of each state within such time as the United States assembled in Congress may agree.

Article IX. The United States, assembled in Congress, has the sole and exclusive right and power to decide peace and war, except in the cases mentioned in the sixth article—the sending and receiving of ambassadors—to enter into treaties and alliances, unless there is a treaty of commerce to be made, preventing the legislatures of the respective states from imposing on foreigners such taxes and duties to which their own people are subject, or from prohibiting the importation or exportation of goods or commodities of any kind—rules established to decide in all cases what captures by land or sea are legal and in what manner the prizes captured by land or sea forces in the service of the United States shall be shared or appropriated; and Peacetime Reprisals - Appointing courts to try piracy and crimes on the high seas; and establishment of courts; to receive and make a final decision on appeals in all cases of arrest; provided that no member of Congress is appointed judge of any of the said courts.

The United States assembled in Congress shall also be the final appellate authority in all disputes and controversies now existing or which may hereafter arise between two or more States as to boundary, jurisdiction, or any other matter; this power is always exercised as follows. Whenever the legislature or executive branch or legal representative of a state in dispute with another submits a petition to Congress setting out the matter in question and requesting a hearing, it shall be reported to Congress by order of Congress Legislative or executive branch of the other disputed State, and a day determined for the appearance of the parties by their legal representatives, who will then be directed to appoint commissioners or judges by common accord to form a tribunal to be heard and decided if they but failing to agree, Congress shall nominate three persons from each of the United States, and from the list of such persons each party shall alternately cross out one, beginning with the applicants, until the number is reduced to thirteen; and from that number not less than seven and not more than nine names shall be drawn by lot in the presence of Congress, and the persons whose names are to be drawn, or any five of them, shall be commissioners or judges be to hear the controversy and decide finally, so that always a majority of the judges who are to hear the matter agree with the decision; and if either party fails to appear on the appointed day, without presenting reasons which Congress shall think sufficient, or being present, refuses to strike, Congress shall appoint three persons from each State, and the Secretary of Congress shall strike on behalf of that absent or refusing party; and the judgment and sentence of the court appointed in the manner prescribed above shall be final and final; and if either party refuses to submit to the authority of such a court or to appear or to defend its claim or cause, the court will nevertheless proceed to pronounce a judgment or judgment which is equally final and decisive ; the verdict or sentence and other proceedings shall in any event be transmitted to Congress, and placed under the records of Congress for the safety of the parties concerned: provided that before each commissioner sits in verdict he shall take an oath administered by a the judge of the Supreme or Supreme Court of the State in which the matter is to be heard "to hear and rule, to the best of his knowledge and belief, the matter in question without favor, affection, or hope of reward: "provided that no State territory is withdrawn in favor of the United States.

All controversies concerning the private right of land claimed under different grants by two or more states whose jurisdictions respect such lands and the states which have passed such grants shall be adjusted, claiming the said grants or any one of them at the same time arose prior to any such determination of jurisdiction shall, to the extent possible, be finally determined, at the request of either party in the Congress of the United States, in the same manner previously prescribed for the determination of disputes as to territorial jurisdiction between different States .

The United States, assembled in Congress, also has the sole and exclusive right and power to regulate the alloy and denomination of coin minted by its own authority or by that of the respective states - by setting the standard of weights and measures set in the United States States - regulate trade and administer all affairs with the Indians who are not members of any of the States; provided that the statutory right of any state shall not be violated or violated within its own borders - establishment and regulation of post offices from one state to another, throughout the United States, and levying such postage on the papers passing through them as required, to defray the expenses of said office - Appointment of all officers in the land forces in the service of the United States, except regimental officers - Appointment of all officers in the naval forces and appointment of all officers in the service of the United States The United States; To make rules for the government and to regulate the aforesaid land and sea forces and direct their operations.

The United States, meeting in Congress, has the power to appoint a committee to meet during recess in Congress, called the "Committee of States," composed of one delegate from each state; and to appoint other committees and officers as may be necessary for the administration of the general affairs of the United States under their direction - to appoint one of them as chairman; provided that no one shall be permitted to hold the office of President for more than one year in any three-year term; to ascertain the necessary sums of money which must be raised for the service of the United States, and to employ and use the same to defray public expenditure; to lend money or issue bills of exchange on the credit of the United States, to send semiannually to the respective states an account of the sums of money so lent or expended, - to build and equip a navy, - to agree on the number of land forces, and requirements of each state for its quota in proportion to the number of white residents in that state, this requirement being binding; and thereupon the legislature of each State shall, at the expense of the United States, appoint the regimental officers, who shall raise men, and dress, arm, and equip them in a manner like soldiers; and the officers and men so clothed, armed and equipped shall march to the place appointed and be assembled in Congress within the time agreed by the United States; but if the United States in assembled Congress, having regard to the circumstances, decides that any state should field no men, or a lesser number than its quota, and that any other state should field a greater number of men than the quota thereof, this will additional number levied, guarded, clothed, armed, and equipped in the same manner as such State's quota, unless the legislature of such State decides that that additional number cannot safely be spared therefrom, in which case they shall so many of that additional number set up, command, clothe, arm and equip as they think they can safely be spared. And the officers and men so dressed, armed, and equipped shall march to the appointed place and convene within the time agreed by the United States in Congress.

The United States, assembled in Congress, must never engage in war, nor grant letters of marque and reprisals in peacetime, nor enter into any treaty or alliance, nor mint money, nor regulate its value, nor determine the amounts and expenditures for necessary for the defense and welfare of the United States, or any of them, nor issue bills, nor borrow money on credit from the United States, nor appropriate money, nor agree on the number of warships to be built or purchased, or the number to be raised land or sea forces nor to appoint a Commander-in-Chief of the Army or Navy unless nine States consent thereto, nor shall any question be asked on any other point save adjournment from day to day unless determined by the votes of a majority of the United States gathered in Congress.

The United States Congress shall have the power to adjourn at any time during the year and anywhere within the United States so that no period of adjournment shall exceed six months, and shall publish the Journal of its Proceedings monthly, except for those portions thereof relating to treaties, alliances or military operations which you believe require secrecy; and the yes and no votes of the delegates of each State on each question shall be entered in the journal, if so desired by a delegate; and the delegates of a State, or any one of them, shall be provided, at his or her request, with a copy of the said journal, save for the portions above excepted, for submission to the legislatures of the various States.

Article X. The States Committee, or nine of them, shall be authorized to exercise during the recess of Congress such powers of Congress as shall be exercised by the United States assembled in Congress, with the consent of nine States, think it expedient from time to time, to clothe them with it; provided that no power is delegated to said committee the exercise of which requires the vote of nine States in the United States Congress pursuant to the Articles of Confederation.

Article XI. Canada, acceding to this Confederation and concurring with the actions of the United States, shall be admitted to this Union and shall be entitled to all the benefits of this Union; but no other colony may be admitted into the same one unless such admission is consented to by nine states.

Article XII. All credits issued, monies borrowed and debts incurred by or under the authority of Congress before the United States Assembly in accordance with the present Confederation shall be deemed an encumbrance against the United States for payment and satisfaction thereof shall be the said United States and the public faith hereby solemnly promised.

Article XIII. Each State shall abide by the regulations of the United States assembled in Congress in all matters referred to it by this Confederation. And the articles of this confederation shall be inviolably observed by every state, and the union shall be everlasting; Nor shall they be modified at any later date unless such modification is agreed upon at a United States Congress and subsequently ratified by the legislatures of all States.

And while it pleased the Great Governor of the World to incline the hearts of the Legislatures that we each represent in Congress to approve and authorize us to ratify said Articles of Confederation and Eternal Union, you know , that we, the undersigned Delegate, by virtue of the power and authority bestowed upon us for this purpose, by these gifts in the name and on behalf of our respective electors, fully and fully ratify and confirm each and every one of said Articles of Confederation, and perpetual union, and all and particular the matters and things contained therein. And we continue to solemnly profess and pledge to the belief of our respective constituents that they will abide by the terms of the United States assembled in Congress on any matter put before them by said Confederation. And that the Articles thereof shall be strictly observed by the States which we each represent, and that the union shall be everlasting. In witness of this, we laid our hands on it in Congress. Done at Philadelphia, in the state of Pennsylvania, on the ninth of July in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, and in the third year of America's independence.