jul 11, 1787 - Three-Fifths Compromise
Description:
A compromise in the US Constitution to resolve the issue of how slaves would be counted in Congress. Since it had been agreed upon in the Great Compromise that the number of members in the House of Representatives for each state would be determined by each state's population, the question arose of whether or not to count slaves (as they were considered property by the South and also could not vote). Northern delegates argued that because of that, they should not be counted in the House. The South, on the other hand, wanted slaves to count towards their total population. The main reason for both of these arguments was one of power, not morality. If slaves were counted, the South would have greater representation (and therefore more power) in the House, something the Northerners were apprehensive about. After much bitter debate, they arrived at the 3/5 Compromise, stating that slaves would be counted as 3/5 of a person for the purposes of calculating House membership. Due to the North's dislike of the words "black," "Negro," or "slave" in the Constitution, the term "other persons" was used instead. The Three-Fifths Compromise can still be found in Article I, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution. However, this agreement became obsolete in 1865, when slavery was abolished, ending the distinction between "free persons" and "other persons."
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