Confederation
ARTICLES OF, a form of constitution adopted by the Continental Congress of the United States in 1777 and ratified by the colonies in the next four years. It provided for a Congress of one house only, in which each State should have one vote. This body was empowered to declare war and peace, make treaties with foreign powers, regulate the value of coin, etc., but as it had no power to enforce its laws upon the States, it soon fell into contempt and on March 4, 1798, expired by limitation under the provisions of the present Constitution.
CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE, the league of Germanic States formed by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1806, and including Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden, Hesse- Darmstadt, the Kingdom of Westphalia, etc. It extended over 125,160 square CONFISCATION miles, and comprised 14,608,877 inhabitants. The princes undertook to raise collectively a large body of troops in event of war, and established a diet at Frankfort; but the failure of Napoleon's Russian campaign of 1812 shook the structure, and the league soon after broke up. It was succeeded by a new league, the Germanic Confederation. See GER- MANY.