<P> One important change that did make it into the final version included the agreement between northern and southern delegates to empower Congress to end the slave trade starting in 1808 . Southern and northern delegates also agreed to strengthen the Fugitive Slave Clause in exchange for removing a requirement that two - thirds of Congress agree on "navigation acts" (regulations of commerce between states and foreign governments). The two - thirds requirement was favored by southern delegates, who thought Congress might pass navigation acts that would be economically harmful to slaveholders . </P> <P> Once the Convention had finished amending the first draft from the Committee of Detail, a new set of unresolved questions were sent to several different committees for resolution . The Committee of Detail was considering several questions related to habeas corpus, freedom of the press, and an executive council to advise the president . Two committees addressed questions related to the slave trade and the assumption of war debts . </P> <P> A new committee was created, the Committee on Postponed Parts, to address other questions that had been postponed . Its members, such as Madison, were delegates who had shown a greater desire for compromise and were chosen for this reason as most in the Convention wanted to finish their work and go home . The committee dealt with questions related to the taxes, war making, patents and copyrights, relations with Indian tribes, and Franklin's compromise to require money bills to originate in the House . The biggest issue they addressed was the presidency, and the final compromise was written by Madison with the committee's input . They adopted Wilson's earlier plan for choosing the president by an electoral college, and settled on the method of choosing the president if no candidate had an electoral college majority, which many such as Madison thought would be "nineteen times out of twenty". </P> <P> The committee also shortened the president's term from seven years to four years, freed the president to seek re-election after an initial term, and moved impeachment trials from the courts to the Senate . They also created the office of the vice president, whose only roles were to succeed a president unable to complete a term of office, to preside over the Senate, and to cast tie - breaking votes in the Senate . The committee transferred important powers from the Senate to the president, for example the power to make treaties and appoint ambassadors . One controversial issue throughout much of the Convention had been the length of the president's term, and whether the president was to be term limited . The problem had resulted from the understanding that the president would be chosen by Congress; the decision to have the president be chosen instead by an electoral college reduced the chance of the president becoming beholden to Congress, so a shorter term with eligibility for re-election became a viable option . </P>

At the constitutional convention who did the delegates agree should elect the president