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compare and contrast the great compromise and the three fifths compromise



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The Great Compromise was brought up during a Constitutional Convention because the small and large states were debating on how to get fair representation with population. The larger states thought they should have more representation but the smaller states didn't want them to have more. It was suggested there be two houses in the legislative branch. The Senate part of the House would each have two seats filled by state elected officials. The House of Representatives would be elected on basis of population,

The 3/5 Compromise can up when people were trying to decide how to count slaves as part of the population count. The Southern States wanted to count the slaves so they could have more representation. The Northern States said the slaves should not be counted since they couldn't vote. It was finally decided that the 3/5 of the slaves could be counted as part of the population.

Compare:  Both measures dealt with the representation of states in Congress.  Both of these compromises were devised during the United States Constitutional Convention in 1787.

Contrast:  The Great Compromise was about small states vs. large states.  The Three-Fifths Compromise resolved a difference between slave states and non-slave states.

Explanation:

  • The Great Compromise resolved a dispute between small population states and large population states.  The large population states wanted representation in Congress to be based on a state's population size.  The smaller states feared this would lead to unchecked dominance by the big states; they wanted all states to receive the same amount of representation.  The Great Compromise created a bicameral (two-chamber) legislature.  Representation in the House of Representatives would be based on population.  In the Senate, all states would have the same amount of representation, by two Senators.
  • The Three-Fifths Compromise was a way of accounting (somewhat) for the population of slaves in states that permitted slavery.  For taxation and representation purposes, the question was whether slaves should count in the population figures.  (They were not considered voting citizens at that time.)   The Three-Fifths Compromise said that three out of every five slaves could be counted when determining a state's population size for determining how many seats that state would receive in the House of Representatives.

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