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We’ll keep it brief this evening…
Barely one week had gone by since the Second Continental Congress had passed the Lee Resolution, which declared the 13 Colonies to be independent from the British Crown, and there was a bustle of activity. Some members of the Congress had returned home, needing to sell the idea of independence to their constituents. Others (5 in particular) had been formed into a committee that was charged with creating a formal “declaration of independence”.
The next day (June 12, 1776), another committee was formed. This group of 13 men was given the more daunting (if less immediate) task of drafting a constitution for a confederation. And for more than a year, the work and the debate would continue. And on November 15, 1777, America’s first “constitution”, the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, were approved by the Congress.
A collective sigh of relief probably went up from men assembled…until they realized that, in the midst of a war against a more powerful opponent, with a financial condition approaching bankruptcy, they would somehow have to get this document ratified. That would take three and a half years.
Recommended Reading: American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic
Today's History Lesson 