The Ingenious Procedure for Ratification called for the election of thirteen state conventions instead of submitting the Constitution to the various state legislatures. This thirteen state conventions were specially chosen to review the new federal government. Slavery, trade, taxes, division of power between the federal and state governments, representation, foreign affairs and the procedure to elect a president were just a few of the controversial topics. Five months of debate produced a new constitution creating a federal republic with a strong central government, Nine out of the thirteen states were needed to approve the constitution before it went into effect.