Transcript

As the Convention debated representation in the national legislature, they realized that if representation was based on population and enslaved people were fully counted in the population, it would greatly advantage the Southern States in Congress. Small states did not want this configuration.

To solve this impasse, James Wilson, a delegate from Pennsylvania, introduced the three-fifths formulation for counting slaves in the population. This formula was already accepted by the states under the Article of Confederation for tax-raising powers. Since the idea of representation was linked in the delegates’ minds to the idea of consenting to tax (remember ‘no taxation without representation!’) that was why Wilson hoped that this formula for representation would prove acceptable to the delegates.

On June 13 of the Convention, the delegates adopted a clause indicating only three-fifths of the enslaved population would be included in the population count. This secured the principle of basing representation in the national legislature on population.