That institution was a unicameral Congress. State legislatures selected delegations, could recall their delegates, and paid them. A state could send between two and seven delegates, but the delegation cast only one state vote. Population therefore did not determine voting strength: Delaware and Virginia each had one vote. Congress selected a presiding member, sometimes styled the president of Congress, but that officer was not an independently elected executive with the powers later assigned to the president under Article II of the Constitution. Congress used committees, departments, and appointed officers to conduct business, yet the Articles created no separate coequal executive branch and no general national judiciary. Specialized tribunals existed for matters such as captures at sea and interstate disputes, so "no national courts of any kind" would also be inaccurate.

Decision rules reinforced state equality and caution. Most questions required the votes of a majority of all the states in Congress-seven of thirteen. Article IX required nine states for specified major actions, including war, treaties, borrowing, appropriations, important military decisions, and appointment of a commander in chief. Article XIII made structural change harder still: Congress had to agree to an alteration and every state legislature had to confirm it. These thresholds encouraged broad agreement and guarded against rapid centralization. They also meant that absent delegations, regional division, or one dissenting state could prevent action even when a substantial national coalition favored it.

The structure should be judged by the problem its authors feared. Americans had just challenged an empire whose distant institutions claimed authority over them, so preserving state control was not an accidental defect. The cost appeared when a national decision required continuing administration, money, or enforcement across thirteen jurisdictions. Congress could adopt a measure within its legal authority, but state officers and legislatures often controlled the next step. The central exam distinction is not "government versus no government." It is a state-centered national government whose rules protected autonomy while making coordinated implementation depend heavily on state cooperation.

Video lesson: The ARTICLES of CONFEDERATION, Explained [AP Government Foundational Documents]