essay

1. Running head: THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE 1
The three-fifths compromise law
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

2. THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE LAW 2
The three-fifths compromise is a law that was enacted in the year 1787 in the United
States during the United States Constitutional Convention. This compromise involved delegates
from the southern and the states from the northern side. The debate was aimed at finding out
whether slaves would be counted in for taxing purposes and legislative representation. This issue
was very important since it would determine the number of seats which the blacks would receive
so that they could be represented in the parliament. This law was aimed at giving more seats to
the people from the south. The seats that were to be given were electoral seats so the slaves could
also be represented in parliament. This would not have been the case if slaves had been ignored
and not considered for the seats. This was a wise move since slaves had a chance to be
represented in the government. These slaves would ensure dominance in the government which
would be felt as far as the year 1861. The compromise law was proposed by James Wilson and
Roger Sherman who were also delegates in the convention to determine the enactment of the
law. There are several provisions or functions that the law was aimed at achieving. The first one
is that the compromise was aimed at ensuring that the slaves in the United States are fully
represented in the government and the House of Representatives. This would pave way for many
blacks to be represented in the government. The other function of the compromise was to ensure
that taxations in the United States of America are carried out well and equally and that all people
regardless whether a slave was or not are taxed equally. This was aimed at by the delegates who
represented the opposition side. The functions and provisions of these came as a result of the
debate that took place in the convention. The delegates from the southern states had different
agendas as compared to the northern states. There was a dispute in the convention since most of
the large states demanded that representation to be done in reference to the numbers of people.

3. THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE LAW 3
The same states wanted to be represented in all the houses. The minority states demanded for an
equal number of representatives (Lutz et al., 1988).
The other part of the essay is to answer the question the question of who the pioneers in
the enactment of this compromise. The primary pioneers in the enactment were delegates from
the southern side of the country and the delegates who came from the northern side. Their main
aim of the delegation was to come up with a law that favors both the slaves and the people who
were not slaves. This era dates back at the time Jefferson was the president of the United States
of America. Jefferson is the one who signed The declaration of Independence to the United
States of America. At that time there were over 500,000 black American slaves. The words
uttered by Jefferson ensured the people of the United States of America equality and freedom.
However, the words of Jefferson did not reflect this since he himself owned a 100 slaves. His
words reflected a person who hated slavery but his actions were a different kettle of fish
altogether. Most of the people whose words showed they disliked slavery, owned slaves. Leaders
by then used lies to hoodwink the people and to prove to them that they were ready to transform
the States by bringing equality, justice and freedom in the country. Most of the southern
colonialists relied on slavery and they had become very wealthy from it. Most of the crops that
were grown by then were a result of slavery. Tobacco, rice and indigo crops depended on slave
labor. The battle to bring slavery to an end continued until when the delegation involving
delegates from the north and south came to table to at least equalize slaves with the common
people. Critical players who took part in the delegation are people like Edmund Rudolph from
Virginia who tabled the requirements of the large states. Virginia being a large state, it
represented the other large states. Their main ideas included having a two house legislature in
which the members in its lower chamber were to be the people’s choice. The legislature was also

4. THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE LAW 4
comprised of another chamber whose members would be selected from the other legislatures of
every state. An unspecified executive was also to be created from the two houses of parliament.
The other thing considered by the large states was the making of a national judiciary which was
to be appointed by the legislature. These proposals by the large states led to the small states
feeling that they were not represented hence they came up with their own plan that they were to
oversee are implemented. William Paterson who was from New Jersey came up with a plan that
was meant to fight for the rights of the minority states, this pioneer came up with a plan that
comprised of the following. To start with the plan was meant to have a congress that would
regulate trade and impose taxes. The other thing that was to be part and parcel of the plan was
that the articles contained in the confederation were to be represented in every state and only one
vote would be allowed. In addition, the plan also stated that some people were to form the
executive and that acts that were to be the ultimate law of the country. The review of the articles
was contained in a plan that originated from New Jersey. The supremacy doctrine reference was
the only significant thing in the plan. The article six of the constitution is the one that contained
this doctrine. This significant thing stated that laws passed by the government under its
constitutional powers and all the treaties were to be under the supreme law of the land. This
argument went on for a long time but the delegates came to an agreement of a greater
compromise which was proposed by Roger Sherman from Connecticut. Roger Sherman who was
the key person in the development of the law helped a lot. The law consisted of a two house
parliament in which division of member was to be according to the numbers in every state. The
other thing is that the senate which is the upper chamber would have two members elected from
the legislature. The Connecticut agreement resolved the small state and large state disagreement.
This agreement allowed each state to have an equal representation in the senate. States that were

5. THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE LAW 5
highly populated had to be represented by two senators. This representation was an unequal
share of power since states that were sparsely populate had only one senator (Loera et al., 1991).
The concern as to whether to vote split the delegation into two the northerners and the
southerners were split again and this was due to voting of slaves. The people from the northern
side of the country valued slaves as property and they claimed that they were not supposed to be
represented in the senate. The southerners argued that the blacks should be equalized with the
whites. This debate caused the two sides to split. The strength of pro-slavery in the convention
was reflected in the compromise. Three-fifths of the compromise stated that for every black
person three fifths were to be represented in the House of Representatives or the senate. The
three-fifths debate led to the apportioning of taxes. The taxes were not apportioned as per the
population but they were apportioned according to land issues. This really brought about
arguments that led to suggestion of ratios that would be used to rectify the situation. A
committee was formed which was open to reception of ratios to rectify the situation. Several
ratios from different people were came up with. The committee favored apportioning of taxes by
use of the population. The ratios of the northern and southern states differed since the northern
people had their ratio and the southern people also had theirs. The proposal by Madison which
was a 5-to-3 ratio was at first not accepted due to the absence of a unanimous decision since
Rhode Island and New Hampshire did not concur with them and as the requirement by the
Article of Confederation in case of the absence of a unanimous decision then the proposal was to
be defeated. This is what happened since the proposal was defeated due to lack of a unanimous
agreement. James Madison’s ratio was later accepted by the constitutional convention (Mintz,
2007).

6. THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE LAW 6
Who were the winners and losers in the conflicts that led to the creation of the three-fifths
compromise law? The main losers in the process of coming up with the law are the northerners.
These people from the northern part of the United States failed since they valued slaves as
property and they did not want them to be equalized with the whites. The ratios they preferred
also were meant to weaken the slaves. The northerners valued themselves hence they had come
up with a plan that would favor them. The plan favored people from the large states and this did
not please those who came from the smaller states hence the came up with their plan which
favored their side of view too. This is what gave birth to the compromise law. The northerners
wanted apportionment of taxes to be carried out using population hence they came up with the
ratios that they suggested should be used to determine this apportionment. The articles of
Confederation apportioned taxes according to land values but not population. This was later
broken so that the apportionment could be carried according to population. Large states and
those that were highly populated had two senators which was an unequal share of power. The
obvious contention between the bigger and smaller states came to a close when Roger Sherman
suggested a more precise plan which helped to unite both the small states and the large states. In
this situation both of the states lost because the plans they had come up with were not
considered. Their efforts to win the battle by using their plans all proved futile (Simpson, 1941).
The winners of the conflicts between the states were people like Roger Sherman. Why is
Roger Sherman the winner? Roger Sherman came from the region of Connecticut. He is the
person who proposed the idea. The idea proposed by him emerged to be the winning idea hence
this is what proves Roger Sherman as the winner. The other winner are the southerners, why did
they win? The reason they won is that these people wanted the whites and the blacks to be
equalized. Their reason was considered and it was put in place since the slaves were allowed to

7. THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE LAW 7
vote in the House of Representation. They were also allowed to be represented in the senate and
the House of Representatives. The other reason as to why the southerners won is that they were
determined in their quest to end slave trade. The people from the south were burdened whose
main population consisted of slaves. These slaves were used as the sources of labor in America.
These people were the source of freed labor that they applied on the farms that were owned by
whites. Their efforts helped most of these especially from the south to become wealthy and they
no longer valued these slaves and they saw them as slaves. Hence the southerners rose up and
defended themselves. They came up with ways that helped them to be represented in the
government hence changing the era of slavery. Their efforts which were proposed by Roger
Sherman proved them as winners since the means that used to oppress were reduced. This proves
that the southerners are the ones who won in the conflicts to ensure the three-fifths compromise
law was developed (Locke et al., 1990).
The origin of the law can be described using either conflict theory or the double
movement theory. The law being a non-economic one, conflict theory is the most suitable theory
to describe and explain this law. The conflict theory is a theory that was developed by Karl Marx
to explain perpetual conflicts due to scarce resources. The theory holds that social order is
maintained by power and domination. This has been exhibited in the development of the three-
fifths law. The powerful who were the whites and lived in the northern side of the United States
values slavery. The people who lived in the southern side were more than those who lived in the
northern side due to shipping of slaves from Africa. The people from the north practiced slavery
and enslaved mostly were the blacks. The scarce resource in this case was labor hence the
northern people took it as a chance to exploit them by forcing them to work in their farms in
which crops such as tobacco, rice and indigo were grown. The slaves who were the main

8. THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE LAW 8
population in the states were not represented in the government hence the need to be represented
developed. The need for the people went far as the development of plans to come up with the law
which will be put into the constitution to ensure that the slaves were allowed to vote and that a
three-fifths compromise was put into place. This led to the plans that outlined how the
government will be. The proposal by Roger Sherman is the one that revolutionized everything
and equalized the small states to the large states. The southern states demanded the blacks to be
represented together with the whites while the northerners saw them as property but not people
to be represented in the House of Representatives or the senate. The James Madison’s
compromise ratio of 5-to-3 is the one that tackled the question of tax apportionment by use of the
population rather than land value as was the case there before (Lynd, 1966).
The processes involved in the development of the law are several. The first process in the
development of the law was the quest on whether slaves should be represented in the House of
Representatives or the Electoral College. This a process that saw delegate of both sides bring out
different issues on how the apportionment should take place to ensure that everyone was well
represented in the Electoral College. Those who were opposed to slavery proposed that the only
free inhabitants of every state should be considered for the apportionment purposes while those
who supported slavery were opposed to the proposal. This process led to another process which
involved the coming up of plans. The large states came up with their plan which after being
scrutinized by the small states such as New Jersey, the plan did not please the states since it went
contrary to their expectations. Hence, the small states came up with their plan that favored their
side. Those both plans were later ignored and a plan proposed by Roger Sherman was
considered. It outlined what both sides wanted hence solving the conflicts that existed between
the large states and the small states. This took the process to another step which was primarily

9. THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE LAW 9
meant on the three-fifth representation of slaves in the government. This brought about the
introduction of the law which saw the slaves being represented in the Electoral College and also
they were equalized to the whites. The three-fifth compromise was proposed by James Madison
who was also a pioneer in the enactment of the law (Ohline et al., 1971).
To sum up, the essay has satisfactorily dealt with the three-fifth compromise law which
was a law enacted by the southern states and the northern states. The essay has also discussed at
length the origin of the law and the key pioneers in the developed of the law. Those who lost as
well as the winners in developing the law have also been mentioned and explained in the essay.
The processes involved in the coming up of the essay have also been discussed in the essay. The
functions and provisions of the essay have also been featured.

10. THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE LAW
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References
Loera, J. R. (1991). The three-fifths compromise.
Locke, M. E. (1990). From Three-Fifths to Zero: Implications of the Constitution for African-
American Women, 1787-1870. Women & Politics, 10(2), 33-46.
Lutz, D. S. (1988). The origins of American constitutionalism. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State
University Press.
Lynd, S. (1966). The Compromise of 1787. Political Science Quarterly, 81(2), 225-250.
Ohline, H. A. (1971). Republicanism and slavery: origins of the three-fifths clause in the United
States Constitution. The William and Mary Quarterly: A Magazine of Early American History,
563-584.
Simpson, A. F. (1941). The Political Significance of Slave Representation, 1787-1821. The
Journal of Southern History, 7(3), 315-342.
Marshall, T. (1987). Reflections on the bicentennial of the United States Constitution. Harvard
Law Review, 101(1), 1-5.