"We, the People of the United States, in Order to for a more perfect union....." These were the words that wrought the birth of a new nation. But these words actually weren't penned until 1787, four years after the Treaty of Paris to end the Revolutionary War was signed. The words written mostly by John Dickinson, known as the Articles of Confederation, existed before the Constitution. Were they successful in solving the problems that a new nation faces? They were successful in establishing peace and land ordinances, but they did not establish a central government.
The Articles of Confederation found amazing solutions to the problems a new nation faced of obtaining peace and setting up land ordinances. They sent diplomats to Paris to make a treaty with England. They got almost everything they wanted from this treaty. They got their freedom, liberty, and lots of land. This is something that most nations wouldn't have been able to accomplish during the first few years of their existence. The Articles of Confederation also established a system to manage the land they had just won. They passed the Land Ordinance of 1785, which divided the land into townships of 6 square miles, and into lots of 1 square mile. They also passed the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which established guidelines of when areas could become territories and later, states. This was a revolutionary idea that the world have never seen before. It threw out the confusion of property lines and when an area could become a state.
However, the Articles of Confederation did not establish a centralized government of power. It did establish a unicameral legislature, known as Congress. But Congress weren't given the power to regulate trade, issuing of paper money, wages or prices, and power to tax. Because of this, Congress couldn't pay off the national debt, curb inflation, and many other things. Riots broke out at the harbors and money depreciated daily. The Confederation was crippled; they couldn't do anything effectively. The Articles of Confederation did not solve these problems effectively.
The Articles of Confederation were successful in some areas and disasterous in others. They were able to obtain what they wanted out of the war. They revolutionized the system of setting up land ordinances. But they failed to give power to Congress to govern foreign affairs, which was the downfall of the Confederation.