ment
framed in 1787, and subsequently adopted by the various States. The
manner in which this revision was effected was as follows. Acting on the
suggestion of the Annapolis Convention, the Congress, on the 21st of the
ensuing February (1787), adopted the following resolution:

"_Resolved_, That, in the opinion of Congress, it is expedient
that, on the second Monday in May next, a convention of
delegates, who shall have been appointed by the several States,
be held at Philadelphia, for the sole and express purpose of
revising the Articles of Confederation, and reporting to
Congress and the several Legislatures, such alterations and
provisions therein as shall, when agreed to in Congress and
confirmed by the States, render the Federal Constitution
adequate to the exigencies of Government and the preservation of
the Union."

The language of this resolution, substantially according with that of
the recommendation made by the commissioners at Annapolis a few months
before, very clearly defines the objects of the proposed Convention and
the powers which it was thought advisable that the States should confer
upon their delegates. These were, "solely and expressly," as follows:

1. "To revise the Articles of Confederation with reference to
the 'situation of the United States';

2. "To devise such alterations and provisions therein as should
seem to them requisite in order to render 'the Federal
Constitution,' or 'Constitution of the Federal Government,'
adequate to 'the exigencies of the Union,' or 'the exigencies of
the Government and the preservation of the Union';

3. "To report the result of their deliberations--that is, the
'alterations and provisions' which they should agree to
recommend--to Congress and the Legislatures of the several
States."

Of course, their action could be only advisory until ratified by the
States. The "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union," under which
the States were already united, provided that no alteration should be
made in any of them, "unless such alteration be agreed to in a Congress
of the United States, and afterward confirmed by the Legislatures of
every State."

The Legislatures of the various States, with the exception of Rhode
Island, adopted and proceeded to act upon these suggestions by the
appointment of delegates--some of them immediately upon the
recommendation of the Annapolis