One of the most divisive issues debated during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 was slavery. Of the original thirteen states, the six southernmost— Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware—had economies that were largely based on slave labor, whereas the seven northernmost did not. Yet even among the latter states, New York and New Jersey still had laws allowing slavery, though few slaves resided there. Aside from the legal issue, arguments raged about whether slaves ought to be counted when apportioning political representation, which would be advantageous to the South, and whether they ought to be counted for purposes of taxation, which would favor the North. In the end, the “three-fifths compromise” settled the issue, with every five slaves counted as three people for both purposes. Further, Congress attempted to prevent the issue from causing dissension in the future when it adopted the Northwest Ordinance in 1787. That law required that any new states created out the territory north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River be admitted without slavery, with the tacit understanding that land south of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi could enter without restrictions on slavery. Thus, both sections were appeased.