Noah Webster's quote highlights his concern about the lack of a strong central authority under the Articles of Confederation, which made it difficult for the national government to function effectively.
The fundamental problem he saw was that states would always work in their own self-interest even if it meant harm to the nation as a whole. This issue arose from the fact that the Articles provided a weak federal government with limited powers, allowing individual states to undermine collective decisions and persist in acting according to their own interests rather than the common good of the union.