Committee of the States

The Committee of the States was an arm of the United States government, under the Articles of Confederation. The Committee consisted of one member from each state, and carried out the executive functions of government while the Congress of the Confederation was in recess.

The Committee was set up in 1784 on the proposal of Thomas Jefferson, then a congressman from Virginia. The Committee "quarrelled very soon, split into two parties, [and] abandoned their post." This later encouraged the belief that the executive power should be assigned to a single President.