The Articles of Confederation functioned as the first national government of the new republic from 1781 to 1788. The Confederation was a league of thirteen sovereign states with a one-house legislature and no executive. Congress had no independent income, had no authority to compel states to accept its rulings, and was unable to act directly on the states. It could not regulate either interstate or foreign trade, levy taxes or tariffs to raise revenue, or raise a military force for national defense. The Confederation was more an assembly of delegates from the states than a national government.