Slavery impacted the growth of the American Government because it was the issue that revolved around ages of legislation. Not only was it a major dividing factor in the Civil War, but it caused many controversies, such as the 3/5th Compromise, which allowed 3/5th of Southern slaves to be counted towards populations for the House of representatives, but it also made it difficult to pass legislation such as the Articles of Confederation, where the creators wanted to include the slaves, but would risk losing the Southern states agreeing to ratify it if they did.
