What did we get out of the Articles of Confederation? (Something positive)

First, it was under the Articles of Confederation that the U. S. successfully prosecuted the Revolutionary War and concluded the Treaty of Paris in which Great Britain formally acknowledged U. S. independence and gave the U. S. all land north of Florida, south of the Great Lakes, and west of the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. The other notable achievements were the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. The Land Ordinance of 1785 set up a system of surveying and selling land in the Northwest Territory. Land would be divided into townships and sections, with one section in each township dedicated to public schools. This law laid the foundation for the public education system in the U. S. today. The Northwest Ordinance set guidelines for how the Northwest Territory would be governed and how new states could enter the Union as equals to the original 13 states. This is important because it established the idea that the U. S. would grow as a republic, and not as an empire with new colonies.