There were several political compromises that, had they not been made, would have prevented the Constitution from ever being adopted. The first is called "The Great Compromise" and had to do with Congress becoming a bi-cameral body. The number of a state's representatives in the House of Representatives would be determined on the basis of each state's population as described in the Constitution. The number of a state's Senators in the Senate would be the same as each other state's, regardless of population. This gave small and large states some protection against being outvoted by the other in issues before Congress. The second compromise had to do with slavery. In order to avoid a clash between the slave and free states over whether slavery would be abolished, the Constitution was written so that it put the question off for twenty years and did not mention the word slavery even once. Article 1, Section 9 says that Congress cannot pass any law regarding the migration or importation of such persons as the states think proper until the year 1808. This referred to slaves and the slave trade. Also, Article 5, which permits amendments to the Constitution, prohibited amendment of Article 1, Section 9 until 1808, thus ensuring that slavery would continue for at least twenty years. There would be no arguments until 1808, leaving the next generation to fight it out. A third is the amount of power given to the Congress. Most states had been acting almost as separate countries and did not want to create a federal government that could impose its will on them. That was why the weak Articles of Confederation were created first and failed. A stronger central government was needed but how strong? The dispute between those who wanted a strong federal government and those who wanted a weaker one was compromised by creating a Congress with specific enumerated powers and no others. All other powers not expressly given to the federal government were to be left to the individual states.