• Article I of the document explicitly states the name of the confederation of newly freed colonies as “The United States of America.”
• Ratification, or official approval of the Articles of Confederation, took four years. Virginia was the first state, in 1777, and Maryland was the final state, in 1781.
• There was an opportunity for the Province of Quebec, called Canada in the document, to join the United States if they agreed to the Articles of Confederation, but they did not accept the terms of the Articles.

To learn more, and to read the full text of the Articles of Confederation, see the 100 Milestone Documents site from the National Archives and the Articles of Confederation site from the Library of Congress.