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From VOA Learning English, welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in Special English. I’m Steve Ember. This week in our series, we continue the story of the United States Constitution. In May of 1787, a group of America's early leaders met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to amend the Articles of Confederation. That document established a loose union of the 13 states. Instead, the leaders wrote a completely new constitution. They created America's system of government and recognized the rights of its citizens. Last week, we discussed the way the delegates agreed that states would be represented in the national government. There would be two houses in the legislature. In one house -- the House of Representatives -- the number of representatives from each state would depend on the state's population. In the other house -- the Senate -- all states would have an equal number of representatives. The agreement on representation was known as the "Great Compromise." Not all the delegates in Philadelphia were pleased with it. But it saved the convention from failure. The debate on representation in the House raised an important issue. No one wanted to talk about it. But all the delegates knew they had to discuss it. The issue was slavery. There were thousands of slaves in the United States in 1787. Most of them were in southern states. But there were many slaves in the north, too. And northern ship owners made a lot of money by importing slaves from Africa. | 
