Editing Articles of Confederation (section)

==Background and context==
The political push to increase cooperation among the then-loyal colonies began with the [[Albany Congress]] in 1754 and [[Benjamin Franklin]]'s proposed [[Albany Plan]], an inter-colonial collaboration to help solve mutual local problems. Over the next two decades, some of the basic concepts it addressed would strengthen; others would weaken, especially in the degree of loyalty (or lack thereof) owed the Crown. Colonists' [[Boston Tea Party|civil disobedience]] resulted in the British enacting coercive and quelling measures, such as the passage of what colonists called the [[Intolerable Acts]] in the British Parliament, and [[Battle of Bunker Hill|armed skirmishes]] which resulted in dissidents being [[Proclamation of Rebellion|proclaimed rebels]]. These actions eroded the number of colonists continuing to be [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]] to the Crown. Together with the highly effective propaganda campaign of the [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriot]] leaders, caused an increasing number of colonists to begin agitating for independence from the mother country. In 1775, with events outpacing communications, the [[Second Continental Congress]] began acting as the [[provisional government]] for the [[United Colonies]].

It was an era of constitution writing—most states were busy at the task—and leaders felt the new nation must have a written constitution; a "rulebook" for how the new nation should function. During the war, Congress exercised an unprecedented level of political, diplomatic, military and economic authority. It adopted trade restrictions, established and maintained an army, issued [[fiat money]], created a military code and negotiated with foreign governments.{{sfn|Wood|1969|pp=354-55}}

To transform themselves from outlaws into a legitimate nation, the colonists needed international recognition for their cause and foreign allies to support it. In early 1776, [[Thomas Paine]] argued in the closing pages of the first edition of ''[[Common Sense (pamphlet)|Common Sense]]'' that the "custom of nations" demanded a formal declaration of American independence if any European power were to mediate a peace between the Americans and Great Britain. The monarchies of France and Spain, in particular, could not be expected to aid those they considered rebels against another legitimate monarch. Foreign courts needed to have American grievances laid before them persuasively in a "manifesto" which could also reassure them that the Americans would be reliable trading partners. Without such a declaration, Paine concluded, "[t]he custom of all courts is against us, and will be so, until, by an independence, we take rank with other nations."{{sfn|Paine|1776|pp=45-46}}

Beyond improving their existing [[Continental Association|association]], the records of the [[Second Continental Congress]] show that the need for a declaration of independence was intimately linked with the demands of international relations. On June 7, 1776, [[Richard Henry Lee]] introduced [[Lee Resolution|a resolution]] before the Continental Congress declaring the colonies independent; at the same time, he also urged Congress to resolve "to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances" and to prepare a plan of confederation for the newly independent states. Congress then created three overlapping committees to draft the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration]], a [[Model Treaty|model treaty]], and the Articles of Confederation. The Declaration announced the states' entry into the international system; the model treaty was designed to establish amity and commerce with other states; and the Articles of Confederation, which established "a firm league" among the thirteen free and independent states, constituted an international agreement to set up central institutions for the conduct of vital domestic and foreign affairs.{{sfn|Armitage|2004|pp=61-66}}