The Articles of Confederation was an agreement among the thirteen original colonies of the United States. It served as the first U. S. Constitution.
One of the guiding principles of the Articles of Confederation was to preserve the independence and sovereignty of the individual states. Therefore, the powers it gave to the federal government were very reduced. The federal government received only the powers which the colonies believed had belonged to the King and Parliament, such as conducting diplomacy and dealing with territorial issues. This extremely limited government would change after the Constitutional Convention.
