The ratification of the United States Constitution was the subject of intense debate between 1787 and 1789. One particularly controversial issue was the Three Fifths Compromise, which settled how enslaved people would be counted for purposes of representation and taxation. Delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia had agreed that three-fifths of the slave population would be counted for representation purposes, thus giving southern states greater representation in the House while remaining exempt from paying taxes on the other two-fifths of the slave population. Although the authors of this article from 1788 focus on the second aspect of the Compromise, it was the issue of representation in Congress that proved to have far greater consequences. Southern states gained disproportionate power in determining issues (particularly those related to slavery) while denying the vote to vast segments of their populations. Show In the first place, as direct taxes are to be apportioned according to the numbers in each state, and as Massachusetts has none in it but what are declared free men, so the whole, blacks as well as whites, must be numbered; this must therefore operate against us, as two fifths of the slaves in the southern states are to be left out of the numeration. Consequently, three Massachusetts infants will increase the tax to equal to five sturdy full grown negroes of theirs, who work every day in the week for their masters, saving the Sabbath, upon which they are allowed to get something for their own support. We can see no justice in this way of apportioning taxes. Neither can we see any good reason why this was consented to on the part of our delegates. Source | Herbert J. Storing, ed., The Complete Anti-Federalist, vol. 6 (University of Chicago Press, 1981), 256. On this date in 1787, the Three-fifths Compromise was enacted. Delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia that year accepted a plan determining a state’s representation in the U.S. House of Representatives. It was ironic that it was a liberal northern delegate, James Wilson of Pennsylvania, who proposed the Three-Fifths Compromise, as a way to gain southern support for a new framework of government. Southern states had wanted representation apportioned by population; after the Virginia Plan was rejected, the Three-Fifths Compromise guaranteed that the Antebellum South would be strongly represented in the House of Representatives and would have disproportionate power in electing Presidents. The issue of how to count slaves split the delegates into two groups. The northerners regarded slaves as property who should receive no representation. Southerners demanded that Blacks be counted with whites. The compromise clearly reflected the strength of the pro-slavery forces at the convention. The “Three-fifths Compromise” allowed a state to count three fifths of each Black person in determining political representation in the House. It was an early American effort to avoid the intersectionality of race, class, nationality and wealth for political control. Rather than halting or slowing the importation of slaves in the south, slavery had been given a new life, a political life. Even when the law stopped the importing of new slaves in 1808, the south continued to increase its overall political status and electoral votes by adding and breeding slaves illegally. The Three-fifths Compromise would not be challenged again until the Dred Scott case in 1856. What Is the 3/5 Compromise? {{#if image:description}} {{image:description}} {{$answers}} {{#if has_answer_with_image}} {{#if has_image}} {{#if image:description}} {{image:description}} {{answer_title}} {{/answers}}{{/questions}}Continue {{/pages}}Continue {{$global}} What is the Three-Fifths Compromise? You got {{userScore}} out of {{maxScore}} correct {{title}} {{image}} {{content}} {{/global}}PrevPreviousWhat Is A Representative Democracy? NextPopular Sovereignty – Definition and ExamplesNext Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Comment * Name * Email * Website Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
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What Was the Great Compromise of 1787?The Constitutional Rights of the People of the United StatesWhat Are Natural Rights?What was the reason for the ThreeThe “Three-fifths Compromise” allowed a state to count three fifths of each Black person in determining political representation in the House. It was an early American effort to avoid the intersectionality of race, class, nationality and wealth for political control.
What was the ThreeWhat did the Constitution say about the "Three-Fifths Compromise"? It said that slaves could be counted as 3/5 of a person for both representation and taxation. Also said that international slave trade would not cease (stop) for two decades (until 1808).
What was the ThreeThe three-fifths compromise was an agreement reached by members of the Constitutional Convention in 1787. It provided for the enumeration of 3/5ths of the enslaved population in a state for the purpose of determining the number of Representatives in Congress each state would have.
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The three-fifths Compromise was a response to
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