At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, differences between the delegates and the interests they represented made compromise absolutely necessary. Debates over representation led to two very well-known compromises. These compromises are the Great Compromise and the Three-Fifths Compromise. The Great Compromise led to the establishment of a two house legislature, which resolved disputes between small and large states. The Three-Fifths Compromise gave the South more representation by counting slaves as three-fifths of a person. This means every five slaves would count for three people. These compromises made at the Convention were needed to help our new nation prosper and grow into the nation it is today. The reason the Great Compromise was needed was because of the …show more content…
At this time, slaves were not counted as anything for taxes or population. The South proposes that their slaves should be counted as part of their total population. Northerners object to this, obviously, because they wanted to continue having more representation and voice than the South. The Constitutional Convention decided upon the Three-Fifths Compromise. This compromise stated that every five slaves would count for three people. This adds to the Southern population thus giving them more representation. Although this gives the South more representation, it also means these slaves would be counted for tax purposes. These compromises helped resolve arguments going on which helped our new nation develop. The Great Compromise gave us a structure to follow that America still uses today. Today, there are four hundred and thirty-five representatives in the House of Representatives. The Three-Fifths Compromise is no longer needed today since America abolished slavery in 1865, but it did help the South gain more representation that they needed compared to the states with larger