large states. In turn, they supported plan proposed by New Jersey, that gave all states an equal representation regardless of the population. The New Jersey Plan set up a two-part legislature, where representation in the House of Representatives was based on population and in the Senate each state was guaranteed a fixed two representatives. The issue of representation transformed into the debate over who would be counted as part of a state's population. Delegate from southern states argued that slaves should be counted for the purposes of representation but not for the purposes of taxation. Representatives of Northern states felt the exact opposite, and argued that slaves should be counted when determining the state's share of taxes and not counted in representation because they are considered to be property. To resolve this argument between North and South, the Three-Fifths Compromise was proposed as a means to fulfill the needs of both North and South while maintaining a balanced state. The debate over southern representation at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, had many supporting arguments and many countering arguments, and many alternative proposals, however the issue was resolved with the establishment of the Three-Fifths Compromise.

The seemingly endless and bitter debate over whether or not blacks should be added equally with whites in the computation of the population in the Southern States would end in a compromise. The compromise would come in late August, proposed by James Wilson of Pennsylvania, it was coined the Thee-Fifths Compromise (Bowen 95). Wilson suggested that a "three-fifths rule be adopted...whole number of white and other free citizens, and three-fifths of all other person's except Indians not paying taxes" (Bowen 95). It literally meant that three-fifths of the all the other persons population will be included in a state's count and that. It would count for both taxation and representation in the House of Representatives (Bowen 95). In additon, the members finally compromised, agreeing that direct taxation be according to representation and that the representation of the lower house be based on the white inhabitants and three-fifths of the other people (Bowen 201).This issue was resolved when slavery and taxation were linked. It was assumed that Congress would raise money by levying direct taxes on the basis of population (Madison). That would mean that if all slaves were counted for the purposes of representation, then all slaves would be counted for taxation. Southerners decided that they were willing to lower demands. By the three-fifths compromise it was agreed that three fifths of the number of slaves would be counted both for representation and for

Some common words found in the essay are:
Virginia Plan, House Representatives, Representatives Bowen, James Madison, Three-Fifths Compromise, Representatives Northern, Bill Rights, Compromise Bowen, Constitutional Convention, Patterson Jersey, virginia plan, slaves counted, based population, house representatives, three-fifths compromise, james madison, plan proposed, argued slaves counted, madison southern, north south, alternative proposals, counted purposes representation, slaves counted purposes, constitutional convention 1787, representation house representatives,
Approximate Word count = 1830
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)