 Among the most controversial issues confronting the delegates was that of slavery . Slavery was widespread in the states at the time of the Convention . Twenty @-@ five of the Convention 's 55 delegates owned slaves , including all of the delegates from Virginia and South Carolina . Slaves comprised approximately one @-@ fifth of the population of the states ; and apart from northernmost New England , where slavery had largely been eliminated , slaves lived throughout all regions of the country . The majority of the slaves ( more than 90 % ) , however , lived in the South , where approximately 1 in 3 families owned slaves ( in the largest and wealthiest state , Virginia , that figure was nearly 1 in 2 families ) . The entire agrarian economy of the South was based on slave labor , and the Southern delegates to the Convention were unwilling to accept any proposals that they believed would threaten the institution . 
