Editing Articles of Confederation (section)

==Drafting==
[[File:Articles of Confederation 13c 1977 issue.JPG|thumb|right|upright=.90|alt=Historical 13-cent postage stamp commemorating the Articles of Confederation 200th anniversary|1977 13-cent U.S. [[Postage stamp]] commemorating the Articles of Confederation bicentennial; the draft was completed on November 15, 1777]]
On June 12, 1776, a day after appointing the [[Committee of Five]] to prepare a draft of the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], the Second Continental Congress resolved to appoint a committee of 13 with one representative from each colony to prepare a draft of a constitution for a union of the states. The committee was made up of the following individuals:<ref>{{Cite web|title=A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 - 1875|url=https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=lljc&fileName=005/lljc005.db&recNum=17|access-date=2021-12-30|website=memory.loc.gov|archive-date=January 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123005059/https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=lljc&fileName=005/lljc005.db&recNum=17|url-status=live}}</ref>

* [[John Dickinson]] (Pennsylvania, chairman of the committee)
* [[Samuel Adams]] (Massachusetts)
* [[Josiah Bartlett]] (New Hampshire)
* [[Button Gwinnett]] (Georgia)
* [[Joseph Hewes]] (North Carolina)
* [[Stephen Hopkins (politician)|Stephen Hopkins]] (Rhode Island)
* [[Robert R. Livingston (chancellor)|Robert R. Livingston]] (New York)
* [[Thomas McKean]] (Delaware)
* [[Thomas Nelson Jr.|Thomas Nelson]] (Virginia)
* [[Edward Rutledge]] (South Carolina)
* [[Roger Sherman]] (Connecticut)
* [[Thomas Stone]] (Maryland)
* [[Francis Hopkinson]] (New Jersey, added to the committee last<ref>{{Cite web|title=The road to union: America's forgotten first constitution May 14, 2014 by Donald Applestein Esq|url=https://www.sesp.northwestern.edu/msed/files/pdfs/theory-practice/National%20Constitution%20Center%20Blog.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160902041559/http://www.sesp.northwestern.edu/msed/files/pdfs/theory-practice/National%20Constitution%20Center%20Blog.pdf |archive-date=September 2, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Hopkinson {{!}} Pennsylvania Center for the Book|url=https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/hopkinson__francis|access-date=2021-12-30|website=pabook.libraries.psu.edu|archive-date=December 30, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211230220703/https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/hopkinson__francis|url-status=live}}</ref>)

The committee met frequently, and chairman [[John Dickinson (Pennsylvania and Delaware)|John Dickinson]] presented their results to the Congress on July 12, 1776. Afterward, there were long debates on such issues as state [[sovereignty]], the exact powers to be given to Congress, whether to have a judiciary, [[State cessions|western land claims]], and voting procedures.{{sfn|Jensen|1959|pp=127–84}} To further complicate work on the constitution, Congress was forced to leave Philadelphia twice, for [[Baltimore]], Maryland, in the winter of 1776, and later for [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania|Lancaster]] then [[York, Pennsylvania]], in the fall of 1777, to evade advancing [[British troops]]. Even so, the committee continued with its work.

The final draft of the ''Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union'' was completed on November 15, 1777.<ref name="Schwarz">{{Cite journal |last=Schwarz |first=Frederic D. |date=February–March 2006 |title=225 Years Ago |url=http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2006/1/2006_1_72.shtml |url-status=dead |journal=American Heritage |volume=57 |issue=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090601231914/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2006/1/2006_1_72.shtml |archive-date=June 1, 2009}}
</ref> Consensus was achieved by including language guaranteeing that each state retained its sovereignty, leaving the matter of western land claims in the hands of the individual states, including language stating that votes in Congress would be ''en bloc'' by state, and establishing a [[unicameral]] legislature with limited and clearly delineated powers.<ref name="A&Eratifies">{{Cite web |title=Maryland finally ratifies Articles of Confederation |url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/maryland-finally-ratifies-articles-of-confederation |access-date=April 28, 2019 |website=history.com |date=November 13, 2009 |publisher=[[A&E Television Networks]]}}</ref>