The Articles of Confederation were replaced by the US Constitution because the federal government had almost no power. Since the federal government had almost no power, very few new laws were passed and the US could not raise a strong army to put down Shay's Rebellion.
When creating the Articles of Confederation, framers feared giving the central (aka federal) government too much power. This was based on America's experience with a "tyrannical" central government when they were under British rule. This is why the Articles of Confederation does not give the federal government the right to tax and needs 13 out of 13 states in order to add an amendment.
They did not give the federal government enough power.
Explanation:
The Articles of Confederation was an agreement that served as the United States first Constitution. Its main guiding principle was to preserve the independence and sovereignty of the colonies. Therefore, it gave a lot of power to the colonies to the detriment of the federal government. This resulted in a weak central government that could not perform things such as raising a proper army. This was the main reason why the articles were eventually replaced by the Constitution.
