Which sentence describes a major weakness of the federal government under the Articles of Confederation?

The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution for the United States. It was adopted on November 15, 1777 and is known for holding a lot of weaknesses.

Although the Articles of Confederation was often criticized during this time for giving little to no power to the federal government, some people actually wanted to keep it that way. These people were called Anti-Federalists and they opposed the ratification of a new constitution for the United States. These individuals wanted to keep the federal government's power to a minimum and were scared a repeat with what happened with England would occur again, "taxation without representation" and unfair laws.

Federalists, on the other hand, wanted a new constitution. They believed the Articles of Confederation was too weak and more power to the federal government was needed drastically. Federalists were the ones who pushed for a new constitution, which eventually lead to the Constitutional Convention. This was a meeting between very powerful people on how to fix the constitution to be better, which actually caused a whole new constitution. This constitution we still use today and is called the United States Constitution.

There were many reasons why the Federalists pushed for a new constitution and why the federal government should have been given more power.

Here are some weaknesses that the Articles of Confederation held:

Federal government could not regulate trade. Federal government could not tax the states, so had to ask them directly for money. This meant they could not pay off war debts or fund anything. Federal government could not properly enforce laws. Had no court system, which made it very hard to make punishments or pass disputes. It was very hard to pass any laws, the federal government needed approval of 9/13 of the states. In order to pass an amendment, all of the states had to agree. This made it very hard to change anything.