Articles of War governed the conduct of United States Army personnel until 1951, when the Uniform Code of Military Justice became effective. The Continental Congress adopted the articles in 1775 to administer justice and enforce discipline in the Continental Army. The articles were based on a British Army Code adopted in the English Mutiny Act of 1689. They were revised in 1776, 1786, 1806, and again in 1916. Congress made other changes after both World Wars I and II, chiefly to assure more leniency in the articles. In 1950, it established the Uniform Code of Military Justice and applied it to all branches of the U.S. armed services. The Uniform Code replaced the Articles of War.
