Editing Articles of Confederation (section)

==Signatures==
{{more citations needed section|date = July 2022}}
The Second Continental Congress approved the Articles for distribution to the states on November 15, 1777. A copy was made for each state and one was kept by the [[Continental Congress|Congress]]. On November 28, the copies sent to the states for ratification were unsigned, and the cover letter, dated November 17, had only the signatures of [[Henry Laurens]] and [[Charles Thomson]], who were the [[President of the Continental Congress|President]] and Secretary to the Congress.

The Articles, however, were unsigned, and the date was blank. Congress began the signing process by examining their copy of the Articles on June 27, 1778. They ordered a final copy prepared (the one in the National Archives), and that delegates should inform the secretary of their authority for ratification.

On July 9, 1778, the prepared copy was ready. They dated it and began to sign. They also requested each of the remaining states to notify its delegation when ratification was completed. On that date, delegates present from [[New Hampshire]], [[Massachusetts]], [[Rhode Island]], [[Connecticut]], [[New York (state)|New York]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[Virginia]] and [[South Carolina]] signed the Articles to indicate that their states had ratified. [[New Jersey]], [[Delaware]] and [[Maryland]] could not, since their states had not ratified. [[North Carolina]] and [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] also were unable to sign that day, since their delegations were absent.

After the first signing, some delegates signed at the next meeting they attended. For example, John Wentworth of New Hampshire added his name on August 8. John Penn was the first of North Carolina's delegates to arrive (on July 10), and the delegation signed the Articles on July 21, 1778.

The other states had to wait until they ratified the Articles and notified their Congressional delegation. Georgia signed on July 24, New Jersey on November 26, and Delaware on February 12, 1779. Maryland [[History of Maryland#The Revolutionary period|refused to ratify]] the Articles until every state had ceded its western land claims. [[Anne-César, Chevalier de la Luzerne|Chevalier de La Luzerne]], French [[Diplomatic rank|Minister]] to the United States, felt that the Articles would help strengthen the American government. In 1780, when Maryland requested France provide naval forces in the [[Chesapeake Bay]] for protection from the British (who were conducting raids in the lower part of the bay), he indicated that French Admiral [[Charles René Dominique Sochet, Chevalier Destouches|Destouches]] would do what he could but La Luzerne also "sharply pressed" Maryland to ratify the Articles, thus suggesting the two issues were related.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sioussat |first=St. George L. |date=October 1936 |title=THE CHEVALIER DE LA LUZERNE AND THE RATIFICATION OF THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION BY MARYLAND, 1780–1781 With Accompanying Documents |url=https://journals.psu.edu/pmhb/article/view/28432/28188 |journal=The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography |volume=60 |issue=4 |pages=391–418 |access-date=April 19, 2018 |archive-date=April 20, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180420010706/https://journals.psu.edu/pmhb/article/view/28432/28188 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Act of Maryland to ratify Articles.jpg|thumb|upright=.90|The Act of the Maryland legislature to ratify the Articles of Confederation, February 2, 1781]]
On February 2, 1781, the much-awaited decision was taken by the [[Maryland General Assembly]] in [[Annapolis]].<ref name="lawsofmaryland">{{Cite web |date=February 2, 1781 |title=An ACT to empower the delegates |url=http://aomol.net/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000203/html/am203--265.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723015508/http://aomol.net/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000203/html/am203--265.html |archive-date=July 23, 2011 |website=Laws of Maryland, 1781 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> As the last piece of business during the afternoon Session, "among engrossed Bills" was "signed and sealed by Governor [[Thomas Sim Lee]] in the Senate Chamber, in the presence of the members of both Houses&nbsp;... an Act to empower the delegates of this state in Congress to subscribe and ratify the articles of confederation" and perpetual union among the states. The Senate then adjourned "to the first Monday in August next." The decision of Maryland to ratify the Articles was reported to the Continental Congress on February 12. The confirmation signing of the Articles by the two Maryland delegates took place in Philadelphia at noon time on March 1, 1781, and was celebrated in the afternoon. With these events, the Articles were entered into force and the United States of America came into being as a sovereign federal state.

Congress had debated the Articles for over a year and a half, and the ratification process had taken nearly three and a half years. Many participants in the original debates were no longer delegates, and some of the signers had only recently arrived. The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union were signed by a group of men who were never present in the Congress at the same time.
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===Signers===
The signers and the states they represented were:
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
;[[Connecticut]]
* [[Roger Sherman]]
* [[Samuel Huntington (statesman)|Samuel Huntington]]
* [[Oliver Wolcott]]
* [[Titus Hosmer]]
* [[Andrew Adams (congressman)|Andrew Adams]]

;[[Delaware]]
* [[Thomas McKean]]
* [[John Dickinson (delegate)|John Dickinson]]
* [[Nicholas Van Dyke (governor)|Nicholas Van Dyke]]

;[[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]
* [[John Walton (1738–1783)|John Walton]]
* [[Edward Telfair]]
* [[Edward Langworthy (Founding Father)|Edward Langworthy]]

;[[Maryland]]
* [[John Hanson]]
* [[Daniel Carroll]]

;[[Massachusetts|Massachusetts Bay]]
* [[John Hancock]]
* [[Samuel Adams]]
* [[Elbridge Gerry]]
* [[Francis Dana]]
* [[James Lovell (delegate)|James Lovell]]
* [[Samuel Holten]]

;[[New Hampshire]]
* [[Josiah Bartlett]]
* [[John Wentworth Jr.]]

;[[New Jersey]]
* [[John Witherspoon]]
* [[Nathaniel Scudder]]

;[[New York (state)|New York]]
* [[James Duane]]
* [[Francis Lewis]]
* [[William Duer (delegate)|William Duer]]
* [[Gouverneur Morris]]

;[[North Carolina]]
* [[John Penn (delegate)|John Penn]]
* [[Cornelius Harnett]]
* [[John Williams (delegate)|John Williams]]

;[[Pennsylvania]]
* [[Robert Morris (merchant)|Robert Morris]]
* [[Daniel Roberdeau]]
* [[Jonathan Bayard Smith]]
* [[William Clingan]]
* [[Joseph Reed (politician)|Joseph Reed]]

;[[Rhode Island|Rhode Island and Providence Plantations]]
* [[William Ellery]]
* [[Henry Marchant]]
* [[John Collins (delegate)|John Collins]]

;[[South Carolina]]
* [[Henry Laurens]]
* [[William Henry Drayton]]
* [[John Mathews (lawyer)|John Mathews]]
* [[Richard Hutson]]
* [[Thomas Heyward Jr.]]

;[[Virginia]]
* [[Richard Henry Lee]]
* [[John Banister (lawyer)|John Banister]]
* [[Thomas Adams (politician)|Thomas Adams]]
* [[John Harvie]]
* [[Francis Lightfoot Lee]]
{{div col end}}

Roger Sherman (Connecticut) was the only person to sign all four great state papers of the United States: the [[Continental Association]], the [[United States Declaration of Independence]], the Articles of Confederation and the [[United States Constitution]].

Robert Morris (Pennsylvania) signed three of the great state papers of the United States: the United States Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution.

John Dickinson (Delaware), Daniel Carroll (Maryland) and Gouverneur Morris (New York), along with Sherman and Robert Morris, were the only five people to sign both the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution (Gouverneur Morris represented Pennsylvania when signing the Constitution).