confederation
    n 1: the state of being allied or confederated [syn: alliance,
         confederation]
    2: a union of political organizations [syn: confederation,
       confederacy, federation]
    3: the act of forming an alliance or confederation [syn:
       confederation, alliance]

Confederation \Con*fed`er*a"tion\, n. [L. confoederatio: cf. F.
   conf['e]d['e]ration.]
   1. The act of confederating; a league; a compact for mutual
      support; alliance, particularly of princes, nations, or
      states.
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            The three princes enter into some strict league and
            confederation among themselves.       --Bacon.
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            This was no less than a political confederation of
            the colonies of New England.          --Palfrey.
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   2. The parties that are confederated, considered as a unit; a
      confederacy.
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   Articles of confederation. See under Article.
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CONFEDERATION, government. The name given to that form of government which 
the American colonies, on shaking off the British yoke, devised for their 
mutual safety and government. 
     2. The articles of confederation, (q.v.) were finally adopted on the 
15th of November, 1777, and with the exception of Maryland, which, however, 
afterwards also agreed to them, were speedily adopted by the United States, 
and by which they were formed into a federal @bod y, and went into force on 
the first day of March, 1781; 1 Story Const. Sec. 225; and so remained until 
the adoption of the present constitution, which acquired the force of the 
supreme law of the land on the first Wednesday of March, 1789. 5 Wheat. R. 
420. Vide Articles of Confederation.