The Three-Fifths Compromise

The Three-Fifths Compromise was an agreement made during the Constitutional Convention to address the contentious issue of how enslaved individuals would be counted for representation and taxation purposes. Southern states, which had large enslaved populations, wanted these individuals to be fully counted to increase their representation in Congress. However, Northern states opposed this, arguing that enslaved individuals should not be counted at all. The compromise determined that each enslaved person would be counted as three-fifths of a person, thus providing Southern states with increased representation while still acknowledging the moral concerns surrounding slavery.