3/5 Compromise Analysis

Southerner, Charles Pinckney exclaimed, "Blacks ought to stand on an equality with whites," when debating about the issue of how to count slaves in the population. Back in 1787 when the founding fathers sat down to write the U.S Constitution, the issue of how to count slaves in the population when determining how much representation each state would have was a major problem. Naturally, the Southerners wanted more representation and, if the slaves were counted, the Southern states would have more representation than if only white people were counted. However, the North disagreed. To settle this, several delegates proposed a compromise known as the 3/5 Compromise. The 3/5 Compromise was a compromise that involved different delegates, had two

different sides to the argument, and had many reasons as to why the nation would need to compromise.
The two delegates that proposed the 3/5 Compromise were James Wilson and Rodger Sherman.

James Wilson was a delegate from Pennsylvania and a founding father who signed the Declaration of Independence. Additionally, he was a farmer, lawyer, and a leading legal theorist. His goal was to get the support of the Southern states on the idea of how to count slaves when determining representation, and the only way that he could do that was by compromising with them. Rodger Sherman, who was a delegate from Connecticut, was the other man who proposed the idea of the 3/5 Compromise. He was also a founding father and the only man to sign all four major U.S. documents. He wanted to have peace between the two different sides to the argument. These two men were determined to put an end to the argument of how to count slaves when determining how much representation each state would get. They were tenacious and strong-willed and they wanted to keep the peace in our nation. Therefore, they proposed the 3/5 Compromise which declared, "Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several states... according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free Persons... three fifths of all other Persons." However, before they could compromise they had to listen to the two different sides of the argument, the North and the

South.
The Northern states, which consisted of states such as Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, did not want slaves to be counted as part of the population. They thought it was unfair to count slaves as part of the population when the South only considered them to be property. For example, Elbridge Gerry asked the Southern states, "Why should the blacks, who were property in the South, be in rule of representation more than the cattle and horses of the North?" Additionally, the North was afraid that if slaves were counted then the South would have more power in Congress. On the other hand, if slaves were counted, the North would pay less direct taxes since counting the slaves would increase the South's taxation. However, the North was willing to sacrifice paying more taxes if that meant that slaves were not going to be counted since that is what they believed was right and just. The North believed that counting slaves in the population made them equal and, if they were to be counted, they should have rights too.
Contradicting what the Northern states wanted, the Southern states were in favor of counting the slaves as part of the population. The Southern states had very low populations and when slaves were removed from the population, it was even lower. In fact, 30% of the population of the South was composed of slaves. Since a good majority of the population of the South was composed of slaves, the South wanted to count them as part of the population so they would have more power in Congress. Whenever the North asked them if slaves were people, they said “yes” as long as it applies to the population and not taxes. When it came to direct taxes, the South insisted that slaves were property and that taxing them would be unfair. They were contradicting there own argument. Additionally, the South also wanted to count slaves as part of the population because their plan was to increase the importation of slaves in the coming years. Additionally, if slaves were counted, importing more of them would increase their power in Congress. Overall, the Southern states just wanted the benefit of having more representatives without having to pay the taxes for it.
After listening to both sides to the argument, the convention finally decided to compromise on the idea for various reasons.

One of the reasons that the convention decided to compromise on the idea was because they wanted to make sure that both sides were pleased. They did not want more chaos in the nation. All they wanted was to have peace in America, and compromising on ideas like this would help create it. Additionally, they wanted to make sure that each states tax burden would be fair. If they didn't count the slaves, then the North would be paying a majority of the taxes, and if they counted the slaves then the South would be paying an unfair amount of the taxes. This lead to a compromise so that each states’ tax burden would be fair and equal according to their different populations. Lastly, they wanted to create a compromise so that they could start trying to abolish slavery. Compromising like this meant that the South would have to stop the importation of slaves in 20 years. This would help the U.S be on its way to abolishing something that it began to morally question. Overall, the 3/5 Compromise helped keep peace in our nation. Even though Charles Pinckney did not get blacks to count the same as whites, he did help get the two sides to compromise on the idea. This was an important lesson that helped make America the country that it is

today.