=239. Committee to frame Articles of Confederation.=—On the day after the committee was appointed to frame the Declaration, a still larger committee was charged with the duty of preparing some plan of confederation. The difficulties met by this committee were almost insurmountable. The colonies were at that moment engaged in the work of framing permanent constitutions for themselves. Nor did the common cause of the war entirely sweep away the jealous differences between the states. The colonies had been settled by people of differing religious and political beliefs, and they had preferences for differing methods. The smaller colonies feared they would be absorbed, and the larger ones feared they would not have proper representation. The same spirit which made them desire to be free from the rule of the mother country made each state unwilling to be subject to the rule of the other states. As the Declaration of Independence had been aimed against the central authority of Great Britain, it was natural that they should distrust a strong central authority in the government they were about to establish. It was in the face of all these difficulties that the “Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union” were reported by the committee, only eight days after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. =240. Difficulties of Agreement.=—But the representatives found so many reasons for desiring changes that a final agreement was not reached by Congress until November of 1777. Then the articles had to go to the several states for ratification. The difficulties now seemed greater than ever before. According to the articles, every state was to have an equal vote with every other state, but to this equality of representation the larger states very strongly objected, while the smaller states stubbornly resisted every other method. There were also grave differences of opinion as to the executive branch of the new government.