The founders' disagreements on this issue based on their economic background and coming from states with different economies influenced the creation of the Three-Fifths Compromise which dealt with how to count slaves as part of the population. According to “The Slavery Compromises,” the economy of Southern states, such as South Carolina, depends on the labor of slaves working on their large plantations (University of Louisiana Lafayette 2016). Because Southern states that depended on slavery naturally owned more slaves, many of the founders of these states wanted slaves to be treated like any other white people to gain more representatives and a voice in Congress. On the other hand, the economy of Northern states did not rely heavily on slavery, and many of these states were “free” states that restricted slavery (University of Louisiana Lafayette 2016). Many of these Northern delegates like Elbridge Gerry countered that “black people are property” and should be considered property that can be taxed, but not as people when they are. they do not have the rights of citizens (Hart et al. 111). From this we can deduce that the Northern delegates fear that the South will get more voice, more representation thanks to more slaves, and they thought it was ironic how citizens had more rights.
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