Disputes over slavery, size, and western lands delayed the Articles for years.

Evidence

These two divisions, plus a third one between states with and without charter claims to western lands, and whether those claims should remain with states or pass to Congress after independence, held up adoption of the Articles of Confederation for years. Congress did not approve a compromise version until 1777, and final ratification took a further four years. In the meantime, without an official confederation, thirteen sovereign states coordinated the war effort through a jerry-rigged Second Continental Congress. Early in 1776, Adams had listed a formal confederation of the states as the third of four indispensable steps for independence, but it turned out that his fourth step, “an Alliance with some foreign State,” proved more crucial than confederation. Once more, Franklin played a central role. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 296

Categorization

• XREF: Confirms that the core structural disputes of the Constitutional Convention (large vs small states, slavery, western lands) were already blocking the Articles. — connects to: State representation disputes deadlocked the Articles of Confederation. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 292