Today in History
What went down and why you should care.
mar 01 Learn More Articles of Confederation Ratified
The Articles of Confederation were ratified on this day in 1781. This predecessor to the Constitution would've gone into effect even earlier, but a disagreement over who was entitled to the land west of the existing states got everybody mad at each other—especially Maryland, which was all, "If Virginia gets all that property to the west, then we're going to our room, and we're never coming out!" Ultimately, Thomas Jefferson convinced Virginia to give up its claim to the land and agree that the territory should be divided into new states. Maryland said, "Okay, cool. Let's call one of them Kentucky or something," and ratified the Articles.
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