'', an 1824 portrait of
George Washington by
John Trumbull On March 1, 1781, the
Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union were signed by delegates of
Maryland at a meeting of the
Second Continental Congress in
Philadelphia, which then declared the Articles ratified. As historian Edmund Burnett noted, "There was no new organization of any kind, not even the election of a new President." The legislative body continued to refer to itself as the Continental Congress. Nevertheless, despite its being generally the same exact governing body, with some changes in membership over the years as delegates came and went individually according to their own personal reasons and upon instructions of their state governments, some modern historians would later refer to the
Continental Congress after the ratification of the Articles as the Congress of the Confederation or the Confederation Congress. The Congress of the Confederation opened in the last stages of the
American Revolution. Combat ended in October 1781, with the surrender of the British after the
Siege and Battle of Yorktown. The British, however continued to occupy New York City, while the American delegates in Paris, named by the Congress, negotiated the terms of peace with
Great Britain. Based on preliminary articles with the British negotiators made on November 30, 1782, and approved by the "Congress of the Confederation" on April 15, 1783, the
Treaty of Paris was further signed on September 3, 1783, and ratified by the Confederation Congress then sitting at the
Maryland State House in
Annapolis on January 14, 1784. This formally ended the
American Revolutionary War between
Great Britain and the
thirteen former colonies, which on
July 4, 1776, had declared independence. In December 1783,
General George Washington, commander-in-chief of the
Continental Army, journeyed to Annapolis after saying farewell to his officers (at
Fraunces Tavern) and men who had just reoccupied
New York City after the departing
British Army. On December 23, at the
Maryland State House, where the Congress met in the Old Senate Chamber, he addressed the civilian leaders and delegates of Congress and
returned to them the signed commission they had voted him back in June 1775, at the beginning of the conflict. With that simple gesture of acknowledging the first civilian power over the military, he took his leave and returned by horseback the next day to his home and family at
Mount Vernon near the colonial river port city on the
Potomac River at
Alexandria in
Virginia. Congress had little power, and without the external threat of a war against the British, it became quite 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 of 1787. The country incurred a massive debt as a result of the War of Independence. In 1784, the total Confederation debt was nearly $40 million. Of that sum, $8 million was owed to the French and Dutch. Of the domestic debt, government bonds, known as loan-office certificates, composed $11.5 million, certificates on interest indebtedness $3.1 million, and continental certificates $16.7 million. The certificates were non-interest bearing notes issued for supplies purchased or impressed, and to pay soldiers and officers. To pay the interest and principal of the debt, Congress had twice proposed an amendment to the Articles granting them the power to lay a 5% duty on imports, but amendments to the Articles required the consent of all thirteen states: the 1781 impost plan had been rejected by Rhode Island and Virginia, while the revised plan, discussed in 1783, was rejected by New York. Without revenue, except for meager voluntary state requisitions, Congress could not even pay the interest on its outstanding debt. The states, meanwhile, regularly failed or refused to meet the requisitions requested of them by Congress. To that end, in September 1786, after resolving a series of disputes regarding their common border along the Potomac River, delegates of Maryland and
Virginia called for a larger assembly to discuss various situations and governing problems to meet in
Annapolis, Maryland, the Maryland state capital. The
Annapolis Convention in 1786, which included additional state representatives who joined the sessions, first attempted to look into improving the earlier original Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. There were enough problems to bear further discussion and deliberation that the Convention called for a wider meeting to recommend changes and meet the next year in the late Spring of 1787 in
Philadelphia. The Confederation Congress itself endorsed this and issued invitations for the states to send delegates, after meeting in secret all summer in Philadelphia's
Independence Hall. The
Philadelphia Convention, under the leadership of
George Washington, developed a proposed new
Constitution for the United States to replace the 1776–1778 Articles. The Confederation Congress received and submitted the new Constitution document to the states, and the Constitution was later ratified by enough states (nine were required) to become operative in June 1788. On September 13, 1788, the Confederation Congress set the date for choosing the electors in the
Electoral College that was set up for choosing the first
president of the United States as January 7, 1789, the date for the electors to vote for the president as February 4, 1789. Additionally, the date for the Constitution to become operative as set for March 4, 1789, when the new
Congress of the United States should convene. The Congress of the Confederation continued to conduct business for another month after setting the various dates. On October 10, 1788, Congress formed a quorum for the last time; afterward, although delegates would occasionally appear, there were never enough to officially conduct business. The last meeting of the Continental Congress was held March 2, 1789, two days before the new Constitutional government took over; only one member was present at said meeting,
Philip Pell, an ardent
Anti-Federalist and opponent of the Constitution, who was accompanied by the Congressional secretary. Pell oversaw the meeting and adjourned the Congress
sine die. ==Presiding officer==