Essentially, when Britain agreed to the terms of the Treaty of Paris following the Revolutionary War in 1783, a new American nation was finally legitimized. The United States, which as thirteen individual colonies had retained a tradition of internal jealousies and suspicions, began a long and difficult process of building a democratic cohesion for the first time. More or less, at this juncture, the only true unifying force between the newly formed states was a ramshackle …showed first 75 words of 1188 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1188 total…was virtually impossible to improve existing laws, and without an executive branch or an ability to raise an effective army, law enforcement was nearly impossible for the government. Finally, although the government conducted foreign affairs, they were done so for the interests of the individual states. Despite all of these inefficiencies, however, it is undeniable that from 1781 to 1789 the Articles of Confederation did provide the necessary stepping-stone that made the later Constitution at least tolerable.