The American leaders sought to draft a new constitution because the Articles of Confederation was extremely ineffective. The Articles of Confederation, America's first constitution, was ineffective because:
1) The federal government did not have the ability to tax citizens.- This meant that the federal government would struggle to gain any type of revenue to pay off debts.
2) The federal government could not force states to follow federal laws.- This essentially allowed state governments to do whatever they wanted.
3) The federal government could not put down rebellions- This was evident from Shay's Rebellion in Massachusetts.
