Congress of the Confederation

The Congress of the Confederation, or the Confederation Congress, formally referred to as the United States in Congress Assembled, was the governing body of the United States from March 1, 1781, until March 3, 1789, during the Confederation period. A unicameral body with legislative and executive function, it was composed of delegates appointed by the legislatures of the thirteen states. Each state delegation had one vote. The Congress was created by the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union upon its ratification in 1781, formally replacing the Second Continental Congress.

The Congress continued to refer to itself as the Continental Congress throughout its eight-year history. Modern historians, however, separate it from the two earlier congresses, which operated under slightly different rules and procedures until the end of the Revolutionary War. Membership of the Second Continental Congress automatically carried over to the Congress of the Confederation, and Charles Thomson, secretary of the First and Second Continental Congress, continued in that capacity in the Congress of the Confederation.

Major acts of Congress in the confederation period include, forming the Bank of the United States (now known as, the First Bank), the Land Acts in 1784 and 1785, and the Northwest Ordinance. The Congress of the Confederation was succeeded by the Congress of the United States as provided for in the new Constitution of the United States, drafted on September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, ratified by each of the states, and adopted by the Confederation Congress in 1788.