The prologue has enough detail to horrify anyone who, looking back, would have wanted the union to succeed.
The government created by the Articles of Confederation was far from up to the job.
Not least threatening were the rebellions in the Northeast, most notably Shay's Rebellion, in which the rebels' demands were variously reported, reports ranging from tax relief for desperate farmers to complete abolition of all debts, public and private, and a complete, leveling redistribution of wealth.
The Articles gave the confederation no clear authority to put down rebellion, no navy, no power to tax, no authority to regulate foreign commerce, and an army of under 700 it couldn't pay any better than it could pay other officials or its own debts.
And, anyway, everything had to be decided by Congress, some things requiring the votes of 7 states and some 9.
But delegates from 9 states were rarely present and, often enough, not even from 7.
The prologue also contains summaries of various plans for a new national government sent to George Washington by friends who urged him to attend the Philadelphia convention as a Virginia delegate, and preside.
None of them thought the Confederation Congress could adequately reform the Articles, none had any faith in the amendment process of the Articles, and none had faith in the possibility of unanimous consent by the states.
All their models for a replacement for the government of the Articles featured separation of powers and a bicameral legislature.
The Confederation Congress itself called for the Philadelphia convention to do the drafting.
Ms. Maier is a fine writer, in a class with Barbara Tuchman and C. V. Wedgewood.
Ratification.
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