What was the government of the U.S. in 1786 organized around?

Answer 1

In 1786, the US Government was organized around the Revolutionary War Articles of Confederation. But even then, just a few years after the end of the Revolution, it was obvious that the Articles of Confederation weren't working, and there was a movement to convene another Continental Congress to revise them.

That Congress met in 1787, but we today refer to it as the Constitutional Convention, because that was the result. Not a revision of the Articles, but an entirely new Constitution that would guide the country forward.