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Effects Of The Three Fifths Compromise

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In effect of the compromise, the South was guaranteed more representation in the House of Representatives. As the agreement was in the process of being passed, many conflicts arose, but soon after, there was a clause brought to the table for the North and South’s best interest. The three fifths compromise was a controversial topic during the late 1700s, and was eventually passed, giving southern states greater representation in the House of Representatives and the national government as a whole.In the year of 1787, the Three-Fifth’s Compromise was proposed by James Wilson of Pennsylvania (Laws, 1). With this suggestion, the South was guaranteed more votes in the House of Representatives. According to the law, one slave would be counted …show more content…

This would be applied when choosing representatives, presidential voters, and assigning taxes (Laws). With this new proposal, Wilson predicted a tremendous amount of southern support. This law was made into the Constitution on June 11th, and was also supported by Charles Pickney of South Carolina (Jensen). Additionally, as stated in the U.S. Constitution, “Representatives and direct taxes shall be appointed among the several states which may be included within this Union according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service of a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, 3/5 of all other persons.” (U.S. Constitution). Many slave owners in the South hope to gain more voting pull with the addition of this new found law. Although the Three-Fifths Compromise was eventually passed, many conflicts arose during the approval process. In the midst of being accepted, the delegates were split into two groups based on their nationalist beliefs. In the south, citizens believed that slaves should be counted the same as a white man (Beardin, “What was the Main Issue …show more content…

The South’s goal was to gain more votes in the House of Representatives; they wanted slaves to be counted as part of the population to gain more electoral votes. This was all in effort for slave-owning states to gain more representation in the national government. Furthermore, if slaves became considered part of the population, there would be more of a demand for slaves. On the other hand, the northern states wanted slaves to be considered as “property” (B, “Why was the 3/5 Compromise Important?”). From a northern standpoint, they wanted the slaves to be equal as cattle. Cattle could not vote, therefore, they believed slaves should not have the right to vote or even be counted as a person. All in all, the different regions of the states had different standpoints which led to the Three-Fifths Compromise.The Three-Fifths Compromise was added to come to provide a partially-equal agreement on were slaves going to be included in the counting of the population for the number of representatives for the House. In troubles, on July 12th, 1787, Governor Morris (representing Pennsylvania at the time) attached “Taxation shall be in proportion to representation” (“The Three-Fifths Compromise: Definition and Summary”). After 1787, slaves were now counted as three-fifths of a white man, but still not having to pay taxes (Applestein, “National Constitution Center”). If the slaves were not going to be represented, they were not going to be taxed. The Three-Fifth

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