About the Confederation. The Articles of Confederation were in place from 1781 to 1860 and functioned just fine. The States of America formed under the Articles of Confederation created a "Confederation" that functioned in commercial venues and established their own businesses doing business as, for example, The State of New York. These were commercial enterprises called "confederated states". Today, we would call them subsidiaries or maybe franchises http://www.paulstramer.net/2020/05/about-confederation.html?m=1