Problems arose with the Articles of Confederation and a committee was created to look into the problems and to find a way to correct them, thus creating the Federal Convention. When the delegates met in Philadelphia as the Federal Convention, they remembered that both the Articles of Confederation and any amendments that might be proposed to them had to be adopted, or ratified, by all thirteen states' legislatures. All attempts to amend the Articles thus failed, as would the proposed Constitution if it were subjected to the procedure codified in Article 13 of the Articles. There were three reasons why both earlier amendments to the Articles and the proposed Constitution would fail under Article 13's procedures: First, it was simply impossible to secure unanimous endorsement by all thirteen states of even the most modest amendment -- and the proposed Constitution was far more than a modest amendment to the Articles. Second, the framers of the Constitution realized that the state legislatures would not accept a system that diminished their authority. Third, the framers noted that they were creating a new constitution for a united American people. On the grounds of political and constitutional principle, the state legislatures, as agents of the people of the several states, could not exercise the power to constitute a government on behalf of their citizens -- only the people of the several states, or representatives whom they elected solely for that purpose, could exercise that constituent power. In September of 1787, the Federal Convention dissolved and it sent the proposed Constitution and its accompanying resolutions to the Confederation Congress. Article VII of the proposed Constitution provided that the new charter of government would go into effect when ratified by nine of the thirteen states or a two-thirds margin.
