Our Documents

Our Documents are the foundation for the rule of law in the United States, everyone should be familiar with them. They tell us what the structure of our government is, and how it is designed to function. They also tell us what rights and freedoms we have as Americans, and the protections we are offered as citizens.

The Articles of Confederation

Articles of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation were actually the first Constitution that the United States had, it was sent by the Continental Congress to all the states to be ratified in November of 1777. Even though it was not ratified by all the states until March 1781, the new government of The United States of American used it as though it was already in effect. It left most of the power and control with the states, thus was not a strong enough document for it purposes though, it did not give enough power to the federal government to function properly. It lacked the power to compel the states to honor national obligations, it also specified no real structure of government or how it would operate, nor did it address the rights of the citizens.

The Declaration of Independence

Declaration Of Independence

On June 11th, 1776 The Second Continental Congress appointed Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston as a committee to draft a declaration of independence. The committee gave the task to Thomas Jefferson who worked in private for days composing a document. Thomas Jefferson prepared a clean copy (original rough draught) of the document for the committee, which became the foundation of the declaration.

It was first revised by John Adams, then Benjamin Franklin before being presented to the full committee, who in turn revised it further. The committee made a total of 47 revisions to the document, they even added 3 complete paragraphs before presenting it to the Congress on June 28th. On July 2nd the Congress voted for independence, they then refined the document further by making an additional 39 revisions to the draft. The final draft was presented to Congress and voted on the morning of July 4th, 1776, thus becoming our “Declaration of Independence”.

The United States Constitution