Abolishing slavery.

... Abolishing slavery Abolishing Slavery In May of 1787, three of the largest slaveholders in the Confederate States met with other wealthy men to compose a Constitution for a group of states who had won their freedom from Great Britain. The newly freed states were under threat of breaking up for financial reasons. These states were a collection of "special interest groups" who met in Philadelphia to balance "political idealism with political expediency," writes Kenneth C. Davis (Davis 85). As they designed their new government, two problems arose. "The first was representation. Should Congress be based on population.... The second question was that of slavery.... Faced with growing abolitionist sentiments, the southern delegates would not bend on questions affecting slavery, nor would they grant freed black slaves the vote. On the other hand, they wanted slaves counted for the purpose of determining representation in Congress" (Davis 86). From there, it took compromise,

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