Articles of Confederation & Perpetual Union: Law's Enactment

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Articles of Confederation & Perpetual Union Enacted to Law as Ratified, then Confirmed after, as Signed in Ceremony before the U.S. Congress In early December 1777, each of the 13 States received copies of the proposed ARTICLES and an explanatory circular, a letter of transmittal from the Congress, dated November 17, 1777. This package was sent to the State capitals on November 28th, when the final copies of the original were returned to the Congress at York, PA from the printer’s office in Lancaster, PA. In turn, soon after receipt of the package, each State government proceeded, each at its own pace, to draft a bill for the enactment of the ARTICLES as State law. The first State to pass the law on the Confederation was the

State of Virginia, on Monday, December 15, 1777; and the last to do so, 1,173 days later, was the State of Maryland, on Friday, February 2, 1781. Enactment Dates when the ARTICLES became State law: On receiving the proposed ARTICLES, a State’s legislature drafted bills for approval by both Houses. Final approval

was effected by the signatures of the Speaker of the House, the President of the Senate, and, ultimately, the Governor. At the outset the Bill was considered prospectively by the legislators, which led eventually to a vote taken for-and-against by both Houses. The successful end result of this legislative review of the bill was the final approval of the enrolled bill by the Governor, as statutory law duly enacted. The typical textual form of the law is in two parts, as below: Enacted

Law [1] An Act of accession to, and approbation of, certain proposed Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union among the several States of the United States of America, and Signed in U.S. Congressional Ceremony [2] An executed Authorization for the delegates of the State to the Continental Congress, , to confirm this ratification in the Congress

of the United States on behalf of the State, and subsequent to the bill’s enactment to law. Between December 15, 1777 and February 2, 1777, there were 13 such enactments, as dated here below: 1777: [#1-r] Virginia’s bill enacted to law on December 15, 1777 1778 [#2-r] South Carolina’s bill enacted to law on February 5, 1778 [#3-r] New York’s bill enacted to law on February 16, 1778 [#4-r] Rhode Island’s bill enacted to

law on February 18, 1778 [#5-r] Connecticut’s bill enacted to law on February 19, 1778 [#6-r] Georgia’s bill enacted to law on February 26, 1778 [#7-r] New Hampshire’s bill enacted to law on March 4, 1778 [#8-r] Pennsylvania’s bill enacted to law on March 5, 1778 [#9-r] Massachusetts’ bill enacted to law on March 10, 1778 [#10-r]

North Carolina’s bill enacted to law on April 25, 1778 [#11-r] New Jersey’s bill enacted to law on November 20, 1778 1779 [#12-r] Delaware’s bill enacted to law on February 1, 1779 1781 [#13-r] Maryland’s bill enacted to law on February 2, 1781 **********************************************************************

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