The Second Continental Congress first met in Philadelphia in May 1775, less than a month after fighting had begun between the American colonies and the British in the American Revolution. After the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776, a committee began to draw up the Articles of Confederation. It was the first attempt to write a constitution for a national government for the colony-states. The Americans were suspicious of a strong central government, and each colony wanted to protect its own powers, making agreement difficult. Work on the articles was not completed until 1777. It took more than three additional years for all 13 colonies to ratify the articles.

The articles provided for a confederation of sovereign colony-states. The sole organ of government was the Congress. Each colony was allowed from two to seven delegates but only one vote. The Congress had power over military and foreign affairs and could establish standards for coinage and for weights and measures and provide postal service. It had no power, however, over the domestic affairs of the colonies and could not levy taxes. Further, the Congress could not enforce its requests to the colonies for money or for troops. There was no executive branch and no federal court. The Articles of Confederation thus produced a weak central government.

Because of the problems with the Articles of Confederation, the states decided to replace them. A new Constitutional Convention met at Philadelphia in 1787 and drafted the present United States Constitution. This new constitution, which came into effect two years later, strengthened the power of the federal government and provided for executive and judicial branches as well as a two-house legislature.