Answer:
The correct answer is D. Under the Articles of Confederation, states caused economic chaos by making independent trade agreements with foreign countries, so the Constitution gave the federal government the power to regulate trade and foreign policy.
Step-by-step explanation:
From September 5, 1774 to March 1, 1781, the Continental Congress acted as the first, provisional government of the United States. The delegates in the First (1774) and Second Continental Congress (1775-1781) were appointed in so-called Committees of Correspondence in the Thirteen Colonies and not by the state parliaments.
The Second Continental Congress established the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, between mid-1776 and the fall of 1777. In the spring of 1781, the Articles of Confederation had been ratified by all thirteen states. This first constitution granted only limited powers to the central government: the center of gravity of the powers lay with the individual states. Decision-making at the confederal level was slow, as unanimity was always needed among states.
Soon the confederal level had to contend with financial problems. The Second Continental Congress proved unable to repay its loans. No state paid its full contribution and some states did not pay any contributions at all.
On an international level, it turned out that the Second Continental Congress could barely maintain American sovereignty. Spain blocked access to the city of New Orleans and closed an important American trade channel. Mediation attempts by US officials remained unsuccessful. Barbary pirates seized US merchant ships, but the Second Continental Congress could not pay the ransom. In the event of a military raid, Congress had neither the means nor the ability to impose taxes that could fund a counterattack.
On the domestic level, the Articles of Confederation did not bring unity among the thirteen states. Although the Treaty of Paris between the United Kingdom and the United States of 1783 mentioned each of the thirteen states, this treaty was violated by several states. New York and South Carolina repeatedly prosecuted loyalists and redistributed their land properties. State parliaments imposed unilateral trade embargoes, negotiated directly with other countries and waged war separately, which went against both the letter and the spirit of the Articles.
As a result of all the mentioned issues, on February 21, 1787, the Continental Congress convened a convention in Philadelphia for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation, which finally ended by enacting the Constitution of the United States.