Simply put the Articles of Confederation vested most of all powers of government to the states. Congress had no real power to levy taxes, and therefore fund itself. Also, the Articles kept the feds out of commerce. This was fine until a dispute came about over commerce between states. Example: a land locked stated needing to export similer goods to that of a cosatal state. The coastal state would “protect” its own commercial interests at the expense of the land locked state in the form of high excise taxes. It became apparent that not only was this unfair, but a huge risk to national security.

Interestingly delegates met in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia Convention to fix only these two issues (thsee subjects were the only issues that the appointed delegates were authorized to address). Instead the delegates wrote an entirely new Constitution. As such, the Philadelphia Convention became known as the Constitutional Convention.

“More so, I feel that in order to master the art of writing one must read constantly.”

“If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time or the tools to write.” –Stephen King, On Writing, p. 147

Let me know how the one you’re reading goes. I’d like to have a more solid understanding of the history, ideas and motivations of the people who drafted it, other than the generic understanding of what it is, what it does and how the Articles of Confederation failed/why it replaced them.

BTW, I am currently reading The Origins of the Bill of Rights. Interesting also.