What does the Three-fifths Compromise involve in terms of representation?

The Three-fifths Compromise was a pivotal agreement during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that addressed how enslaved individuals would be counted for the purposes of representation and taxation. Under this compromise, each enslaved person would be counted as three-fifths of a person when apportioning representatives in Congress. This compromise was reached to balance the interests of Southern states, which wanted to count enslaved people to increase their political power, and Northern states, which were opposed to counting enslaved individuals for representation since they were not granted rights as citizens.

The solution of counting each enslaved person as three-fifths sought to create a middle ground that allowed Southern states to gain some representation without giving them full advantage over Northern states, which did not have as large a population of enslaved individuals. This compromise significantly influenced the political landscape of the early United States and was a critical factor in the contentious debates over slavery and representation.

While there were alternatives proposed, such as counting enslaved individuals as full persons or excluding them entirely from representation calculations, the Three-fifths Compromise specifically established that they would be counted as three-fifths, thus accurately reflecting the nature of the agreement made at that time.