The Articles of Confederation | "The stile of this confederacy shall be 'The United States of America'"

(Articles of Confederation)

Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between the States of New-Hampshire, Massachusettes-Bay, Rhode-Island and Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia . [New-London: Printed by Timothy Green, Printer to the Governor and Company of the State of Connecticut, 1784]

Folio (302 x 180 mm). Three disbound leaves, six pages numbered [1]–6 (extracted from Acts and Laws of the State of Connecticut, in America); some marginal staining, neat repair to fore-edge margin of third leaf. Housed in half maroon morocco folding-case, chemise.

"The stile of this confederacy shall be 'The United States of America': the final draft printing of the Articles of Confederation"— (Article I).

Richard Henry Lee’s celebrated independence resolution of 7 June 1776 further averred “That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation.” Congress seemed inclined to act on this motion as quickly as it had on declaring independence. Just five days after Lee’s proposal was voiced, a committee of one delegate from each colony was appointed to draft a plan. Exactly one month after its appointment, 12 July 1776, the committee, chaired by John Dickinson, proposed for debate “Articles of confederation and perpetual union” among the thirteen states. But the exigencies of war and the approach of the British to Philadelphia suspended the debate, and it was not until 15 November 1777 that Congress—by then sitting in York, Pennsylvania—adopted the Articles of Confederation and sent them to the various state legislatures, together with a circular letter urging their ratification. The Articles were not formally ratified until 1 March 1781. Despite this delay in being formally adopted, the Articles served as the basis of the system of government for the thirteen states throughout the Revolutionary War. The Articles granted the federal government the ability to wage war, to negotiate treaties and other international diplomatic alliances, and to resolve state disputes over land. Despite its insufficiencies, as the first written constitution of the United States, the Articles of Confederation cannot be dismissed as entirely unsuccessful since it had yoked the individual states together in a “confederacy for securing the freedom, sovereignty, and independence of the United States” and offered a basis for what would become the Constitution as we know it. 

The text of this printing preserves the final draft printing of this Founding Document, as executed for the use of the Continental Congress.

Evans 15620 mistakenly attributed this printing to the Lancaster press of John Dunlap. Christie's New York, citing Evans, offered another copy on 22 June 2012, speculating that it might have printed in York by Hall and Sellers; that copy achieved $25,000.

REFERENCES

ESTC W33318; Evans 18409