The Federal Arbitration Act renders written provisions for arbitration of future disputes in commercial contracts or maritime transactions 'valid, irrevocable, and enforceable.' The act's principal objective is to enforce private arbitration agreements. In response to a motion to stay proceedings under section three of the act or a petition to compel arbitration under section four of the act, a Federal court can examine only those issues regarding the making and performance of the arbitration agreement and cannot analyze the merits of the dispute. If a valid agreement to arbitrate exists, the court must next determine whether the dispute is arbitrable. The court must then determine whether there are overriding public policy reasons for not referring the dispute to arbitration. This article discusses the history of the act and the influence that history has had on the current Federal policy toward arbitration and the arbitrability of disputes. This is followed by an analysis of judicial applications of the law of arbitrability and the ramifications the current applications have for parties contemplating entering into arbitration agreements. Practical and theoretical problems raised by the current Federal applications are reviewed. The article suggests that courts adopt a rule of interpretation that addresses whether the parties intended to arbitrate the dispute issues to promote more effectively the parties' intentions while still achieving the act's goals. 175 footnotes.