Editing Three-fifths Compromise (section)

===Constitutional Convention===
During the Constitutional Convention, the compromise was proposed by delegate [[James Wilson (Founding Father)|James Wilson]] and seconded by [[Charles Pinckney (governor)|Charles Pinckney]].<ref name="mad">{{cite book|last=Madison|first=James|author-link=James Madison|date=1787|publication-date=1902|title=1787: The Journal of the Constitutional Convention, Part I|url=https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/madison-the-writings-vol-3-1787|volume=3|series=The Writings of James Madison|editor-last=Hunt|editor-first=Gaillard|publisher=[[G. P. Putnam's Sons]]|via=oll.libertyfund.org}}</ref>{{rp|143}}

When he presented his plan for the frame of government to the Convention on its first day, Charles Pinckney of South Carolina proposed that for the purposes of apportionment, a "House of Delegates" be determined through the apportionment of "one Member for every thousand Inhabitants 3/5 of Blacks included."<ref>{{Harvnb|Williams|1978|page=222}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/pinckney.asp|title=The Plan of Charles Pinckney (South Carolina), Presented to the Federal Convention|last=Pinckney|first=Charles|author-link=Charles Pinckney (governor)|date=1787|department=[[Avalon Project]]|publisher=[[Yale University]]|publication-date=2008|access-date=2 April 2020}}</ref> The Convention unanimously accepted the principle that representation in the House of Representatives would be in proportion to the relative state populations, but it initially rejected his proposal regarding apportionment of the black population along with the rest of his plan. Delegates opposed to [[History of slavery in the United States|slavery]] proposed that only free inhabitants of each state be counted for apportionment purposes, while delegates supportive of slavery opposed the proposal, wanting slaves to count in their actual numbers.

The proposal to count slaves by a three-fifths ratio was first presented on June 11, and agreed to by nine states to two with only a brief debate.<ref name="mad"/>{{rp|143–4}} It was debated at length between July 9 and 13 (inclusive) when it was initially voted down by the members present at the Convention six to four.<ref>{{Harvnb|Feldman|2017}}{{page number needed|date=August 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/debates_711.asp|title=Madison Debates, July 11|date=July 11, 1787|department=[[Avalon Project]]|publisher=[[Yale University]]|work=[[Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787|Madison's Notes on Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787]]|publication-date=2008|access-date=2 April 2020|last=Madison|first=James|author-link=James Madison}}</ref> A few Southern delegates, seeing an opportunity, then proposed full representation for their slave population; most states voted no.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/debates_712.asp|title=Madison Debates, July 12|date=July 12, 1787|department=[[Avalon Project]]|publication-date=2008|publisher=[[Yale University]]|work=[[Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787|Madison's Notes on Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787]]|access-date=2 April 2020|last=Madison|first=James|author-link=James Madison}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/slaveryfoundersr0000fink/page/14/mode/2up|title=Slavery and the Founders: Race and Liberty in the Age of Jefferson|date=1996|publisher=[[M. E. Sharpe]]|location=[[Armonk, New York|Armonk]], New York|url-access=registration|last=Finkelman|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Finkelman|pages=14–15|isbn=978-1-56324-590-9}}</ref> Seeing that the states could not remain united about counting the slaves as five-fifths<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pressreader.com/usa/the-new-york-review-of-books/20190606/281616716809672|title=No Property in Man: Slavery and Antislavery at the Nation's Founding by Sean Wilentz|via=[[PressReader]]|publisher=[[The New York Review of Books]]|last=Guyatt|first=Nicholas|date=6 June 2019}}</ref> without some sort of compromise measure, the ratio of three-fifths was brought back to the table and agreed to by eight states to two.<ref name="mad"/>{{rp|416}}