A. Americans had broken away from British rule.
B. The thirteen colonies had declared themselves to be “united” states.
C. The Second Continental Congress lacked legal authority to act as a central government.
Step-by-step explanation:
Before the United States Constitution, there was the Articles of Confederation. These Articles were incredibly weak and gave little to no power to the federal government. The federal government could not properly regulate trade, tax the colonies, create or enforce laws properly, or even draft soldiers.
Anti-Federalists preferred having a weak government, as they associated having a strong government with British tyranny. Federalists wanted a strong government, as they believed having a strong government meant having a strong country.
Eventually, the Constitutional Convention of 1787 happened, which was originally going to try to revise the Articles of Confederation. This obviously did not happen, as the Articles ended up getting scraped for the United States Constitution.
With the United States Constitution, the federal government now had power, which the Anti-Federalists still were not happy about. In order to try to please them and to protect the rights of citizens, the Bill of Rights was created, so the government could not abuse their power.
The United States Constitution was needed to keep order and keep the colonies on the same page. As Americans had broken away from British rule and now the colonies had declared themself to be united, they needed to have the same set of rules, goals, and boundaries with one another. Along with this, the Second Continental Congress lacked the legal authority to act as a central government, so they needed something else to make the decisions and be powerful, yet still wanting the best for the colonists.