Key Takeaways: The Three-Fifths Compromise ***The three-fifths compromise was an agreement, made at the 1787 Constitutional Convention, that allowed Southern states to count a portion of its enslaved population for purposes of taxation and representation.
***The compromise gave the South more power than it would have had if enslaved people had not been counted.
***The agreement allowed slavery to spread and played a role in the forced removal of Native Americans from their lands.
A primary aim of the Constitution was to create a government that would be powerful enough to run the country, but would not impose on people's or state's rights. To avoid too much power being held by one person or group, they created the Balance of Power between the three branches of government: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial.
There were two primary competing plans for the Constitution:
Virginia Plan - The Virginia plan was written by James Madison. It represented the desires of the larger states and said that the number of representatives to Congress should be based on the state's population.
New Jersey Plan - The New Jersey plan was written by William Paterson from New Jersey. It represented the smaller states and said that each state should have the same number of representatives.
In the end, an agreement was reached called The Great Compromise. This allowed the number of representatives to the House be based on the state's population while each state would have two representatives in the Senate.
James Madison is often called the father of the Constitution since so much of his work and ideas were incorporated into the final document.