What was the Articles of Confederation primarily concerned with?

The Articles of Confederation were primarily concerned with state autonomy because they were established to create a framework for a loose union of independent states. This fundamental structure reflected the prevailing belief at the time that states should retain the majority of their powers and operate with a high degree of independence from a centralized authority.

The Articles aimed to facilitate cooperation among states while ensuring that the national government did not infringe upon state rights. Each state acted almost like a sovereign nation under the Articles, which were intentionally designed to limit the power of the federal government to prevent the kind of centralized authority that the colonists had experienced under British rule.

This emphasis on state autonomy is why the Articles allowed for significant decision-making power to remain with individual states, which included the authority to manage their own affairs without heavy interference from the central government. The eventual recognition of the limitations of this model led to the drafting of the U.S. Constitution, which sought to create a balance between federal and state powers.