The Articles of Confederation and the Perpetual Union, known as the Articles of Confederation, were the first document of government of the United States of America. They were approved by the second Continental Congress on November 15, 1777, after several months of debate. The Articles of Confederation are considered one of the four founding documents of the American nation.
Under the terms of the articles of confederation, the congress did not have the power to collect taxes from the states. Without the ability to tax states, federal defense programs would be difficult to fund
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Under the Articles of Confederation, the government consisted of one branch only: Congress. There were no executive or Judicial branches as we know them today. There was, however, a President appointed by Congress to serve one-year terms, but this person did not have an executive role, he could only perform some administrative and ceremonial functions. During the Constitutional Convention, this was one of the many weaknesses that the delegates saw in the Articles of Confederation: without Separation of Powers, the government relied on one branch only to perform all their duties, and could not be overseen or checked by other branches.
