The Three fifths Compromise

Fifths Compromise

History and Background of the Compromise:

If there was one thing that divided Southern and Northern states sharply during the ratification of constitution and immediately after it, it was none other than the institution of slavery. Slavery was indeed a dark and shameful practice that plagued the history of United States for many decades before it was finally abolished in 1860s. However before this time, South has a strong hold on the practice of slavery and no amount of opposition would deter it from its fixed ways of thinking. Southerners believed that the only way they could possibly have an edge over Northern states was with the help of their affluence, which was basically grounded in their rubber, cotton and other plantations. They needed large armies of slaves to work on these plantations since they were cheap labor and couldn't object to the level of wages.

Sugar plantation is heavily responsible for the growth of slavery on the United States. An ugly practice that began in Portugal spread to whole of Europe before it found its way to the Southern states of America. This was in fact one institution that every person with morals would found repulsive and degrading but since it was economically viable, Southerners were more than glad to have found a cheaper means of raising sugar and becoming economically stronger than their more modern Northern counterparts. This shameful practice continued in the United States without much opposition until the latter half of 1800s when Northerners launched staunch attack against inhumane treatment of slaves. It is important to understand that background of slavery and its practice in the U.S. before we discuss the significances or effects of Three-fifths compromise.

While slaves were definitely treated inhumanly, they did have certain impact on two important historical events, Ratification of constitution and Articles of confederation. Southern states felt that since they had large armies of slaves to support, they must be given an upper hand in the Congress. In other words, they wanted more representations because they felt they had bigger population ratio. However this was one thing that northern states did not agree with because they knew that higher representation would mean more rights and greater voice in deciding major issues. For this reasons, North raised a voice against counting of slaves in the general population and felt that South must not be allowed to count slaves with whites because that would tilt the balance in the latter's favor. Northerners were not in favor of counting slaves because they knew slaves had not been given any rights in the South and thus using them to gain heavier representation was unfair.

The Three fifth - Compromise:

Representation in the House of Representatives was indeed a serious issue during the days of ratification of constitution. Founding fathers wanted torn keep the union together at all costs and they took some wrong decisions to appease the Southern representatives who would have otherwise seceded from the Union. When representation became an important issue, Virginia Plan was proposed which said that states should gain representation on the basis of population. However this plan was not acceptable to the smaller states that felt Virginia plan was both unfair and lopsided as it was give bigger states greater say in all major matters, leaving smaller states in a state of helplessness. Smaller states therefore decided to support New Jersey Plan that proposed equal representation for all states. This plan disregarded the role of population but since South states were not in favor of such method of representation, three-fifth compromise materialized. James Wilson proposed this compromise. He felt that if delegates of various states accepted this proposition, it could solve the problem of counting and representation based on population factor. This idea was presented before the delegates on July 12 that year and stated that three out of every 5 slaves should be included in population count for determination of representation. This compromise favored the pro-slavery quarter in the United States but it appeared to be the best solution in the given situation.

James Wilson of Pennsylvania who was ironically a fair anti-slavery delegate first presented the idea of three-fifths compromise. This compromise was strongly opposed by most Northern states because they knew South would use slave count unfairly to gain an edge over other states in House of Representatives. Secondly they also believed that South for relaxation of taxes too. However the entire idea behind this compromise was to consider five black men equal to three white men, which was extremely unjust method of counting men as it degraded black community. It was like educing the status of black men and not considering them as human as their white counterparts. North opposed this method for several reasons including it being a derogatory practice but it is highly unfortunate that in order to keep the union together, the founding fathers had to succumb to such compromises. The dignity of human beings was completely torn apart with this compromise and the ideals of freedom and equality for all appeared to be hallow principles on which the entire Union was based. We must blame compromises like three-fifths for seriously hurting the rights and status of black community in the United States. Smith (1999) writes: "trapped at the bottom of the chasm of inequality, progress is frozen for slave descendants in the three-fifths compromise, which denies African-Americans full rights as humans."

On the one hand three-fifths compromise was blatant violation of human rights and dignity, and on the other, it shattered the principles of freedom and equality that founding fathers had actively promoted during the war of independence. Once the independence was attained, it became clear that Founding Fathers were more interested in keeping the Union together than safeguarding the rights of minorities. Ward Connerly (2001) writes: "In a second concession of their principles to material interests, the Founders also agreed to count slaves as only three-fifths of a person. This compromise stemmed not from a belief that slaves were less than human; rather, slave owning states wanted to count slaves as whole persons in deciding how large their population was, but not count them at all in deciding how much the states would pay in taxes. The infamous three-fifths compromise was the unfortunate concession."