What is Articles of Confederation?
{{Infobox |name = Infobox/doc |bodystyle = |title = The Articles of Confederation |titlestyle = background:#214FC6; color:white |image = [[Image:Articles page1.jpg|150px]] |imagestyle = |caption = The first page of the Articles of Confederation |captionstyle = |headerstyle = background:#214FC6; color:white |labelstyle = background:#ddf; |datastyle = |header1 = Quick Facts |label2 = [[Ratification|Ratified]] |data2 = March 1, 1781 |label3 = Approved By |data3 = [[Second Continental Congress|Continental Congress]] |label4 = Purpose |data4 = First [[United States|U.S.]] [[constitution]] |label5 = Replaced By |data5 = [[United States Constitution|U.S. Constitution]] (1789) }} {{US Constitution article series}} The '''Articles of Confederation''', formally named the '''Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union''', was an agreement among all thirteen original states in the [[United States of America]] that served as its first [[constitution]].<ref>{{cite book| last = Jensen| first = Merrill| title = The Articles of Confederation: An Interpretation of the Social-Constitutional History of the American Revolution, 1774–1781| year = 1959| publisher = University of Wisconsin Press| isbn = 978-0-299-00204-6| pages = xi, 184 }}</ref> All thirteen states [[Ratification|ratified]] the Articles in early 1781. In 1789, the [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Fathers]] replaced the Articles with the [[United States Constitution]] and a [[federation|federal]] form of [[government]]. == Contents == [[File:Congress voting independence.jpg|thumb|left|250px|The [[Second Continental Congress]] wrote and passed the Articles of Confederation]] Even though the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution were created by many of the same people, the two documents were very different. The original five-paged Articles contained thirteen articles, a conclusion, and a section for [[signature]]s. The following list contains short summaries of each of the thirteen artic