The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was the interim constitution of the United States of America between 1777 and 1789. The name the United States of America is encountered here for the first time. Three physicians were among the 48 signers – Josiah Bartlett, Samuel Holten and Nathaniel Scudder. All three men started out studying and practising medicine but their lives took very different turns as the new nation emerged.
Two corrections are needed to the information in this paper. The first is that Table 2 on page 96 should indicate that the Constitutional Convention occurred in 1787 and the second is that on page 96 the reference to Figure 1 belongs to the end of the paragraph ‘Infectious Disease' on p. 97.
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