Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between the States of New-Hampshire, Massachusettes-Bay, Rhode-Island and Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia

[New London: Timothy Green, 1784. Folio. (11 9/16 x 6 13/16 inches). 3 leaves disbound pp. (6) Sheets toned. Housed in red chemise and matching red cloth box, with morocco lettering piece on spine.

(Article I) "The stile of this confederacy shall be 'The United States of America': the final draft printing of the Articles of Confederation."

The Articles of Confederation, a unicameral constitution providing for a loose federation of the states, was drafted and approved by the delegates meeting in York-Town (now Lancaster), on November 15, 1777. It required unanimous ratification by the 13 states, therefore it only went into effect in March 1781 after the last state, Maryland, ratified. Its inception marked the end of the Continental Congress; it would remain in effect, in many ways, for seven years, until superceded by the Constitution of 1788. This printing constitutes "the final draft printing of the Articles, executed for the use of the Continental Congress. This version, with 'sundry small amendments in the diction, without altering the sense' was agreed to on Nov 15, 1777. The first edition subsequent to approval (Evans 15619) was printed at Lancaster by Francis Bailey shortly after." One of the great American documents. Another copy of this 6 pp. printing was tentatively attributed to the Lancaster Press of John Dunlap by Evans (Evans 15620; Sabin 2142) and sold at Christie's New York on June 22, 2012, for $25,000. This printing was extracted from the Laws of Connecticut (Evans 18409).

Evans 18409 (source); Evans 15620; Sabin 2142.