The Constitutional Convention of 1787 played a vital role in the unification of the states after the Revolutionary War. However, to achieve this, the convention had to compromise on many issues instead of addressing them with all the necessary haste. This caused the convention to leave many questions unanswered. These included issues of slavery, race, secession, and states' rights. Through the Civil War and Reconstruction, these problems were resolved, and in doing so, the powers of the federal government were greatly expanded. Slavery Most delegates expressed no significant desire to abolish slavery at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Furthermore, the convention's goal was to form a more perfect union, without addressing the issue of slavery. (Dolbeare, 71). Also complicating matters was the concern of some delegates that placing too much emphasis on the issue of slavery could lead to the collapse of the unification process. This resulted in the Constitution containing a series of compromises regarding slavery and openly avoiding the issue of slavery. These compromises are found in four main places in the Constitution. The first is the Three-Fifths Compromise, which detailed how slaves would influence each state's population in an effort to determine representation and taxation. Located in Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution, the compromise stipulated that three-fifths of the slave population would be counted for enumeration purposes (Dolbeare, 71). This compromise was important to the Southern states, whose populations consisted of large numbers of slaves, because without it they would have significantly fewer representatives in the House. Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution prohibits...... middle of paper ......Hofstadter, Richard. The American political tradition and the men who created it. Knopf, New York: Vintage Books, 1989. Print. Jennings, Marianne M. Business: its legal, ethical and global environment. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning, 2008. Print. Lincoln, Abraham. The Emancipation Proclamation. United States National Archives and Records Administration. Internet. December 5, 2009. historics/USSC_CR_0074_0700_ZO.html>. Robinson, Luther E. Abraham Lincoln as a Man of Letters. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: R. West, 1977. Print.Scott v. Sandford. United States Supreme Court Center, 1856. Web. December 4, 2009..Texas v. White. Cornell University Law School Supreme Court Collection, 1850. Web. December 3, 2009.USSC_CR_0074_0700_ZO.html>.