The Engagements Clause of the United States Constitution (Article VI, Clause 1) says that debts and other obligations of the federal government that were incurred during the years when the Articles of Confederation served as the constitution of the United States continue to be valid after the Articles were superseded by the new Constitution.
[1] The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union were proposed by the Continental Congress in 1777 and became effective upon ratification by all thirteen states.
The Congress of the Confederation commissioned the Constitutional Convention to meet in 1787 to propose improvements to the Articles of Confederation, with the result that they proposed the new Constitution, which superseded the Articles within the states ratifying it, upon ratification by nine of the thirteen states.
All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.The twelfth Article of Confederation was also an engagements clause, committing the Confederation to honor promises made by the Continental Congress before the Congress of the Confederation convened.
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