Congress of the Confederation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Congress of the Confederation or the United States in Congress Assembled was the governing body of the United States of America from March 1, 1781, to March 4, 1789. It comprised delegates appointed by the legislatures of the states. It was the immediate successor to the Second Continental Congress; the membership of the Second Continental Congress automatically carried over to the Congress of the Confederation when the latter was created by the ratification of the Articles of Confederation.
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[edit] Events
The Congress of the Confederation opened in the last stages of the American Revolution. Combat ended in October with the surrender of the British at the Battle of Yorktown. However, the British continued to occupy New York City as the American delegates in Paris, named by the Congress, negotiated a peace treaty. In 1783 the Treaty of Paris was signed, which ended the war. The Congress had little power and without the external threat of a war against the British, it became more difficult to get enough delegates to meet to form a quorum. Nonetheless the Congress still managed to pass important laws, most notably the Northwest Ordinance.
There were enough problems that the Congress called a convention in 1787 to recommend changes to the Articles of Confederation. This convention instead issued a Constitution to replace the Articles. The Congress submitted the Constitution to the states, and the Constitution was ratified by enough states to become operative in September 1788. On September 12, 1788, the Congress set the date for choosing the electors for President as January 7, 1789, the date for the electors to vote for President as February 4, 1789, and the date for the Constitution to become operative as March 4, 1789.
The Congress of the Confederation continued to conduct business for another month after setting the various dates. On October 10, 1788, the Congress formed a quorum for the last time; afterwards, although delegates would occasionally appear, there were never enough to conduct business, and so the Congress of Confederation passed into history.
[edit] Dates and places of sessions
- First Confederation Congress
- Second Confederation Congress
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- November 5, 1781 – November 2, 1782, Philadelphia
- Third Confederation Congress
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- November 4, 1782 – June 21, 1783, Philadelphia
- June 30, 1783 – November 1, 1783, Princeton, New Jersey
- Fourth Confederation Congress
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- November 3, 1783 – November 4, 1783, Princeton
- Fifth Confederation Congress
- Sixth Confederation Congress
- Seventh Confederation Congress
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- November 7, 1785 – November 3, 1786, New York
- Eighth Confederation Congress
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- November 6, 1786 – October 30, 1787, New York
- Ninth Confederation Congress
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- November 5, 1787 – October 21, 1788, New York
- Tenth Confederation Congress
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- November 3, 1788 – March 2, 1789, New York
[edit] See also
- History of the United States (1776–1789)
- List of Continental Congress Delegates
- President of the Continental Congress
[edit] Bibliography
- Burnett, Edmund C. [1941] (1975). The Continental Congress. Greenwood Publishing. ISBN 0-8371-8386-3.
- Henderson, H. James [1974] (2002). Party Politics in the Continental Congress. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0-8191-6525-5.
- Merrill Jensen. New Nation: A History of the United States During the Confederation, 1781-1789 (1950) (ISBN: 0394705270)
- Andrew C. McLaughlin, A Constitutional History of the United States (1935) ch 12-13 online version
- Richard B. Morris. The Forging of the Union, 1781-1789 (1988)
- Richard B. Morris, "The Confederation Period and the American Historian", William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Ser. Vol. 13, No. 2 (Apr., 1956), pp. 139-156 doi:10.2307/1920529 online in JSTOR
- Rakove, Jack N. The Beginnings of National Politics: An Interpretive History of the Continental Congress (1979) ISBN: 0394423704
- Montross, Lynn [1950] (1970). The Reluctant Rebels; the Story of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789. Barnes & Noble. ISBN 0-389-03973-X.
[edit] External links
- major documents from the Congress, including journals, letters, debates
- The Continental Congress - History, Declaration and Resolves, Resolutions and Recommendations
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| 1774 First Continental Congress | Philadelphia |
| 1775 – 1781 Second Continental Congress | Philadelphia → Baltimore → Lancaster → York |
| 1781 – 1789 Congress of the Confederation | Philadelphia → Princeton → Annapolis → Trenton → New York |
| 1789 to date United States Congress | New York → Philadelphia → Washington |
