2007-09-12 04:09:56 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Trivia
slaves counted as 3/5ths of a person--for every 5 slaves living in the state, the area got credit for 3 residents.
actually, back in the day when the US government was getting started, no one really liked this much....the south wanted slaves counted as whole people, so they could get more representation in Congress, and therefore more of a voice. the north did not want them counted at all, to give the north more representation and more of a voice in government.
question is--who were the prejudiced ones? hmmmm
2007-09-12 04:17:05 · answer #1 · answered by SAMUEL ELI 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
In the lower house of Congress, aka the House of Representatives, how many votes/representatives a state gets is dependent on its population. If you include all the slaves in the population count, you get more votes, which the South liked and the North didn't like. The North liked the idea that slaves shouldn't be counted at all, because that view would give Northern states a bigger share of the power.
To settle the argument, they agreed to count each slave as 3/5 of a person.
The South didn't exactly want this, but it was better than giving in completely to the North's point of view. The South had a lot less people in it than the North, even if you counted all the slaves, not just 3/5 ot them. So, in a sense, the South needed it more.
2007-09-14 15:19:57 · answer #2 · answered by Durian 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The 3/5 compromise allowed 3 out of 5 slaves to be counted as part of the countries population. The south wanted it because without it the north had more population meaning more seats in congress meaning more power, which ment they would have voted to outlaw slavery. Make sense?
2007-09-12 04:19:22 · answer #3 · answered by Rissa 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
3 5th Compromise
2016-10-04 00:11:32 · answer #4 · answered by glassburn 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it was a law stating that 3/5 of slaves counted as population instead of property. the south wanted it because they were smaller states so they needed more population in order to have more votes in congress
2015-10-27 15:03:51 · answer #5 · answered by Tim 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it meant that 3/5 of the slaves counted as property and 3/5 counted as population
they held the majority vote because they held most of the slaves
2007-09-12 04:23:37 · answer #6 · answered by idolfan_01 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It meant that each slave was counted as 3/5 a white man.
2007-09-12 04:51:14 · answer #7 · answered by VeggieTart -- Let's Go Caps! 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋