8.6 Issue: How Should Slaves Be Counted?

Lesson 8 Section 6. Issue: How Should Slaves Be Counted?

Let's review the Great Compromise

Multiple Choice

The Great Compromise was a compromise between--

• Mass. Plan and New Jersey Plan

• Virginia Plan and New Jersey Plan

• Virginia Plan and New York Plan

• Virginia Plan and Delaware Plan

Multiple Choice

The Virginia Plan wanted representation based on--

• population
• equality for every state
• state size
• money

Multiple Choice

The New Jersey Plan wanted representation in government based on--

• population
• equality for every state
• state size
• money

The Great Compromise kept the framers working together.  But having agreed to base representation in one house of Congress on state population, they faced a new and difficult question.  As Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania put it, “Upon what principle shall slaves be computed in the representation? ”

People or Property

By the time of the convention, nine-tenths of the slaves in the United States lived in the South. Like everyone else, southerners wanted as many representatives in the House as possible, so they argued that slaves should be counted the same as any other people in determining representation.

Multiple Choice

Southern states wanted slaves to count for--

• Taxes

• Population

Multiple Choice

Why did southerners want slaves to have representation in Congress?

• So northerners couldn't claim that the South didn't care about slaves' rights.

• Because southerners valued the opinions of African Americans more than northerners.

• Since most slaves lived in the South, it meant southern states would get more representation.

• So slavery could become legal in Washington, D.C.

Delegates from the North challenged this idea.  Were slaves to be considered people with a right to be represented in Congress or were they property?  “Blacks are property and are used to the southward as horses and cattle to the northward,” argued Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts.  

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Most northern delegates agreed that slaves should be counted only as property that could be taxed like any other property.  If slaves were to be counted as people in determining representation in Congress, said Morris, “then make them citizens and let them vote. ”

Multiple Choice

Northern states wanted slaves to count for--

• Taxes

• Population

New Thinking on Slavery

This argument signaled a growing division among white Americans. The Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution forced many whites to reexamine their views on slavery, and some became active in trying to end what they now saw as a great evil. 

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Benjamin Franklin, for example, became president of an antislavery society in 1787. In the North, this new thinking led one state after another to pass laws ending slavery.

Although many southerners were uneasy about slavery, they were not yet ready to abolish it.  The South's economy was still very dependent on the labor of enslaved African Americans.  But some southern states did pass laws making it easier for owners to free their slaves.

Multiple Select

What might a delegate from the NORTH have said about how slaves should be counted for representation in Congress?

• “You treat slaves as property. They should be counted only as property and not for representation.”

• “Slaves should be counted the same way as every other person is counted.”

Multiple Select

What might a delegate from the SOUTH have said about how slaves should be counted for representation in Congress?

• “You treat slaves as property. They should be counted only as property and not for representation.”

• “Slaves should be counted the same way as every other person is counted.”

Multiple Choice

Compare the growing division in attitudes toward slavery by choosing what a delegate from the NORTH might have said.

• “Many states have passed laws against slavery, and some Northerners are involved in activities to end slavery.”

• “The South is not ready to abolish slavery. Our economy is too dependent upon it.”

Multiple Choice

Compare the growing division in attitudes toward slavery by choosing what a delegate from the SOUTH might have said.

• “Many states have passed laws against slavery, and some Northerners are involved in activities to end slavery.”

• “The South is not ready to abolish slavery. Our economy is too dependent upon it.”

Tomorrow will discuss how the framers decided to resolve this issue.