They felt the need of government.

They wanted the protection of a strong arm.
It must not be forgotten that the thirteen colonies which declared their independence in 1776 were all seaboard communities, each with its port.

They were all trading communities.

The East, with its fisheries and timber; the Middle States, with their agricultural products and peltries; the South, with its tobacco; each saw, in that freedom from the restrictions of the English navigation laws which the treaty of peace secured, the promise of a boundless commerce.

To protect commerce there must be a national power somewhere.