The Three-Fifths Compromise in Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
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“The Convention is in a dilemma. By agreeing to the clause it will revolt [many] in the States having no slaves. On the other hand, two states might be lost to the Union.”
—Edmund Randolph, Virginia delegate to the Constitutional Convention
Slavery. The issue every delegate thinks about, yet hoped to avoid. Southern states want slaves counted in their population, to boost their representation in the House. Georgia and South Carolina say they’ll leave if they can’t keep importing slaves. An impossible dilemma. Delegates who hate slavery don’t want to see the convention fail. So they compromise. Fugitive slaves will be returned. The slave trade remains legal for 20 years. And, as in the current Articles of Confederation, each slave will count as three-fifths of a person.
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