American History- What impact did the Three-Fifths Compromise have on the passage of the Constitution at the Philadelphia Convention?

Question

What impact did the Three-Fifths Compromise have on the passage of the Constitution at the Philadelphia Convention?

A) Politicians needed a compromise that would allow southerners the security of maintaining slavery.

B) Politicians believed a compromise would lead southerners to emancipate their slaves through eschewing representation in the House of Representatives.

C) Politicians believed that a compromise was needed to support the success of northern factory workers. 

D) Politicians sought a compromise that would allow northerners to maintain control of the US Senate.

I think the anwser is either C or A?

Answer 1

Hi Klauss,

In the United States' Congress, the Founders decided on a bicameral legislature, meaning a legislature with an upper and a lower body. For the upper body - the Senate - each state gets two Senators, no matter their size. For the lower body - the House of Representatives - representatives are assigned to states based on that state's population, which is determined every ten years by the census.

If Southern states were able to count their slaves - who naturally would not be allowed to vote - then they would have greater representation in the House. If they did not get to count their slaves at all, then the North would have greater proportional representation in the House.

So in order to compromise, slaves were counted as 3/5 of a person in the Census.