The three-fifths Compromise: The problem was that the southern states thought the slaves should be counted in population, not for taxation, but the northern states opposed. The south had less free people than the north, so they wanted an equal say in the government. After much deliberation, a compromise was made. The south needed a compromise in order to ratify the constitution for themselves. They decided to make all free people count as a whole, and all non-free people count as 3/5 of a person, but also, the non-free people counted as 3/5 for taxation purposes as well.
The Commerce and Slave Trade Agreement: Now the Congress was scared that the abolishonists, the industrial northern representatives, would try to change the slave laws in the south and add a stronger export tax on the agricultural southern tobacco. So, the congress decided that the governmentcould not interfere with slave laws for the first twenty years after the adoption of the constitution and that there would no longer be an export tax.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
As you know, we are going through the Great Compromise. Congress cannot decide whether or not it is fair to adopt the New Jersey Plan, or the Virginia Plan. This compromise (An agreement with two sides or more, where every side gives up some of what they may want.) is one that potentially will shape the future government. You might be in between the two plans, but after you read this, you’ll know why you should choose the New Jersey Plan. This plan is about having an organized government, and the ideas on what the Congress should have the power to do.…
- 395 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Before we knew it as the United States Constitution, we all knew it as the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation was just too weak as in: each state had one vote in Congress, there was no executive branch to enforce laws passed by Congress, there was no national court system, and etc… Before it could be ratified there was great concern between the delegates that were present at the convention. The main concern they had was the type of legislature. The representatives of larger states wanted the seats in the legislature to be determined by the size of the state. The representatives from the smaller states wanted to have equal representation in Congress. They negotiated on this situation by allowing a bicameral legislature,…
- 283 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Then the great compromise was reached on June 29, 1787. This was a combination of the New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan Connecticut Compromise, which stated that there would be two houses (bicameral). One house would have equal representation and the other would be based on population. It was called the Connecticut Compromise because Roger Sherman, who had offered a compromise dealing with the issues of slavery and representation, was from Connecticut. Members of the House of Representatives (lower house) would be appointed among the states according to population and would be elected by the people. Members of the Senate (upper house) would be chosen by the lower house and would have an equal number of representatives for each state. The House has the power to originate all bills for raising or spending money (they write the bills to be passed) and the Senate favors the smaller states with two senators for each state. This compromise also included the Three-Fifths Compromise which tackled the issue of slaves being…
- 765 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The government’s inability to tax and raise an army, as well as their lack of central power, led to what became known as the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The Founding Fathers met to fix the problems with the Articles, but ended up drafting the Constitution instead. During the convention, several different plans were discussed. The first was the Virginia Plan, written by James Madison, which suggested the existence of both an executive and legislative branch. The legislative branch was to have two houses of Congress, each with representation based on population. In contrast, the New Jersey Plan was to have a unicameral legislative branch with equal representation for each state. With the help of Benjamin Franklin, the Great Compromise was created, which combined the two plans. It called for three branches; including a legislative branch comprised of two houses. The Senate was to have equal representation from each state, while the…
- 6730 Words
- 27 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Slaves where there were exceptions with the wealthiest slave nation in the Americas, men tended to field work and women worked on the cotton gin. There is a new idea of the role of men and women and the relationship between black and white men. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 made sure that new states developed in the west would be able to claim full statehood once their population reached the lowest population of older states. Jefferson, American Founding Father wanted to spread ideas around with the opposition of the continuity of the republic. The three fifth's compromise in 1787 determined that each slave should be counted as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of taxation and representation in the state. This agreement allowed unequal…
- 175 Words
- 1 Page
Good Essays -
The United States of America was going through a time of great debates and dilemma’s. It became obvious that a better more powerful national government was necessary. The Articles of Confederation was weak and needed to be replaced. While this was occurring a major problem developed. This was between large states, which vied for legislature segmented by population, and smaller states which wanted the system to have equal portioned votes everywhere. The larger states suggested the Virginia Plan, and the small states proposed the New Jersey Plan. At first, this issue was at a stalemate and both sides refused to give up ground. Eventually, Oliver Ellsworth offered The Great Compromise. This called for a bicameral Legislature with proportional…
- 556 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
In 1787 the three-fifths compromise was enacted. It was one of the most controversial topics at the time. The three-fifths compromise was a way for southerners to ensure that they weren’t out-numbered in the House of Representative. James Williams, a northern coincidentally proposed the three-fifths act. It didn’t benefit the north because they…
- 649 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
In 1786 Alexander Hamilton called for a Constitutional Convention to discuss the lack of a central government and to fix the Articles of Confederation. The colonies were told to send delegates to the convention. The 55 delegates met, they were composed of merchants, farmers, lawyers and crafters. They were supposed to fix the Articles of Confederation but they decided to create a whole new document and call it the Constitution. This new government would have three branches the Legislative, Judicial, and Executive. They also designed a system of Checks and Balances that would make sure that no branch would become too strong. They also made the Constitution able to be changed if necessary. Not all the delegates were professional people they were…
- 152 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
The Three Fifths Compromise made it fair for all involved or so the states would want us to believe such nonsense. The population numbers detremine the taxes as well the representation of each state. Who would be counted as population in the census became a big debate among the states.…
- 366 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
The Three-Fifth clause is a compromise that said for every five slaves, three of them would count towards the state’s population. The Three-Fifth clause conference was held at the United States Constitutional Convention in the year 1787 and was enforced in states that allowed slavery. The reason for the Three-Fifth clause is because the states had to figure out a system of representation and didn’t know how to count the slaves. The Northern states didn’t want the slaves to be counted towards the population because the slaves were seen as property in the Southern states and the Northern states were concerned that if the Southern states had too many representatives, they would be able to out vote the North on many issues including slavery and…
- 181 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
With the existence of plantations and the trade of crops, southern states relied heavily on the slave labor. Those states were not in support of freeing the slaves, as their profits and consistency of exportation would eventually plunder. Furthermore, with the northern state delegates not abiding to the South’s proposal,…
- 734 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The great compromise and how representation of states in congress is determined, this was an important way that congress envisioned a way to maintain the growth of states and to make sure that certain states did not have more reprentatives than others, their was a lot of bickering to come up with a law that could benefit all parties that are involved, what they finally agreed to after some arguing among themselves was that each state would be representated by two senators and will and a will consist of an variable number of members of the house of…
- 1052 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
Other members of the founding fathers agreed. James Madison said that southern states “could have no influence in the election on the score of Negroes.” Madison was referring the infamous “three-fifths compromise,” which allowed the South to count each black slave as three-fifths of a person. Madison, and others who agreed, wanted to keep power within the white upper class. These men did not want the popular vote to be the deciding factor because after slaves were given the right to vote the tide could turn and shift balance of power within America.…
- 850 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The ratification of the United States Constitution depended on the agreement of the North and the South, and the issue of slavery was a major obstruction to this agreement. Each state’s representation was determined by the number of person’s residing in that state. The North did not want to count the slaves as part of this number because it would mean less representation for them in the government. Their argument was that since slaves were considered property, they should be equated with other chattel property, like cattle and mules. The South, on the other hand, was determined to count slaves into their population due to the high proportion of slaves in the southern region of the country. Without the support of the South, the ratification of the Constitution was doubtful, so the 3/5 Compromise was written. Article 1, section 2 of the Constitution states that “population for the purposes of representation and taxation would be determined by adding the whole number of free people, including indentured servants, plus 3/5 of all slaves”. This was also called The Enumeration Clause.…
- 513 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
2. a. Some large states were thinking about forming their own nation, which set up a separate committee to find a way to balance the interests of large and small states. Some Connecticut delegates such as Oliver Ellsworth, Roger Sherman and Dr. William Samuel Johnson came up with a compromise, this meant a Bicameral legislature, in the lower house the number of representatives for each state is determined by population and in the upper house, each state has an equal number of representatives.. This major step in the convention is known as the Great Compromise also called the Connecticut Compromise. This meant a Bicameral legislature, in the lower house the number of representatives for each state is determined by population and in the upper house, each state has an equal number of representatives.…
- 533 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays