The thirteen colonies after declaring independence needed something to unify them and to set the foundation for a nation. This document became the Articles of confederation, it mearly set out a very lose form of government that would unify the colonies under common issues. As a goverment however the articles were barly functioning. With out nessesary power such as the abbility to control taxes or to inforce nearly any laws within a state the Articles didnt really unify the colonies into anything other than a treaty. A new nation could not really appear until the colonies had some substantial governing body with the power to regulate economic ans well as forigen affairs.