<P> Most accepted the desire among the slave states to count slaves as part of the population, although their servile status was raised as a major objection against this . The Three - Fifths Compromise assessing population by adding the number of free persons to three - fifths of "all other persons" (slaves) was agreed to without serious dispute . In 1783, when attempting to assess a national taxation system, the Confederation Congress had considered a three fifths ratio, which did not achieve unanimity . This compromise resulted in a large coalition of states, including the small slave states of South Carolina and Georgia, backing the Virginia plan and thus expanding the power of the primary coalition . That the lower house was to be elected directly by the voters was also accepted without major dispute . </P> <P> More contentious than the lower house was the question of the upper house . Few agreed with Madison that its members should be elected by the lower house . James Wilson suggested election by popular vote versus election by state legislature, but his proposal was shot down 10--1 by the delegates . Most delegates didn't question the intelligence of the voters, rather what concerned them was the slowness by which information spread in the late 18th century . </P> <P> At the time of the Convention, they noted that local newspapers said little of current events, and what little they had was sketchy and dated . Local papers even said little about the meeting of the Convention . Alexander Hamilton proposed extending the term in office for senators to life, considering earlier proposals of four and seven years inefficient to enable the "rich and well born" to have a "distinct, permanent share in the government," which could "check the imprudence of democracy ." Moreover, Hamilton proposed that senators not be elected directly by the general public, but by "electors" chosen for that purpose . </P> <P> Besides the problems of direct election, the new Constitution was seen as such a radical break with the old system, by which delegates were elected to the Confederation Congress by state legislatures, that the Convention agreed to retain this method of electing senators to make the constitutional change less radical . The more difficult problem was the issue of apportionment . The Connecticut delegation offered a compromise, whereby the number of representatives for each state in the lower house would be apportioned based on the relative size of the state's population, while the number of representatives in the upper house would be the same for all of the states, irrespective of size . The large states, fearing a diminution of their influence in the legislature under this plan, opposed this proposal . Unable to reach agreement, the delegates decided to leave this issue for further consideration later during the meeting . </P>

How were decisions made by the constitutional convention