This pocket-sized hardcover edition contains the preamble, conclusion, and all thirteen articles that make up the Articles of Confederation. The original document—one of the United States' first governing documents—was passed by the Continental Congress in 1777, and later ratified by the states in 1781. Though the Articles of Confederation was not successful in creating a strong federal government, it did establish a set of rules for politics and governance that do—in some ways—still persist today. This document was replaced by the U.S. Constitution in 1789.