The Three-Fifths Compromise
Process Paper
The Three-Fifths Compromise stuck out to us as an intriguing topic for the reason that we were curious to see how the delegates from each state would present their arguments on a given subject and come to a compromised result. This particular compromise was more striking than others because of its subject: slavery. It immediately presented two opposing sides of the situation, the North and the South, which ties in with the Civil War unit we had been studying in class. Additionally, the aspect of the 'compromise' instantly presents the revolution, reaction, and reform that we need to look for in history. One viewpoint is shown, an argument bursts out, and the delegates have to come to a compromise. Our research hopes to follow this compromise—this reform—through history until its nullification so we may see how it has affected the course of events.
Upon conducting said research, we started small by searching merely the name of the event: "3/5 Compromise". Of course, the results were simple summaries of the event, but some of these summaries went into greater detail on certain topics, such as the political interests of certain delegates or the opposing viewpoints on slavery the North and the South possessed. We read through the summaries, trying to grasp a better understanding of the compromise—but that was all they were: summaries. Our next research sessions brought much better results, including several primary resources, which had been written either during the settlement compromise or in the years before the Civil War. Our most insightful primary source were James Madison's notes of the actual event of the compromise. We also searched the effects the compromise had on presidential elections and discovered websites that had some charts and descriptions showing the number of seats in House of Representatives between the South and Non-south states. By narrowing the viewpoint onto how the compromise was a reform, we learned that it was actually a result of the Great Compromise. Our research then linked the Great Compromise to the Three-Fifths Compromise, and we were able to build this site through hard work and dedication.
The website, while being a simple tool for expressing information, took several long hours to form. To take long, essay-like paragraphs and reduce them to mere bullets of quick facts is almost painful, and is undoubtedly time-consuming. Formulating the argument was fairly difficult, because for a long time we weren't sure what our argument was. However, we were able to overcome this as we created our website. Organizing certain events into either a revolution, reaction, or reform helped immensely in building each page of this site. In the end, our viewpoint on the three-fifths compromise as a reform fell into place and we were able to present our argument in a meaningful manner.
The theme of revolution, reaction, and reform is, as said before, easily met by the mere definition of a compromise. The revolution is the first argument that is presented: one person's view on a subject and what he wishes to be done. The reaction is the opposing view, the argument that beats down on the revolution. Eventually the two views are brought together and evened out to form the compromise: the reform. We took the Three-Fifths Compromise as a reform and found how it was made, and on the way discovered the viewpoints of the delegates of the Constitutional Convention. From the Great Compromise's creation, several hours of argument and debate over the issue of representation led to the writing of the clause of the Three-Fifths Compromise, which was a final decision and therefore a reform.
Upon conducting said research, we started small by searching merely the name of the event: "3/5 Compromise". Of course, the results were simple summaries of the event, but some of these summaries went into greater detail on certain topics, such as the political interests of certain delegates or the opposing viewpoints on slavery the North and the South possessed. We read through the summaries, trying to grasp a better understanding of the compromise—but that was all they were: summaries. Our next research sessions brought much better results, including several primary resources, which had been written either during the settlement compromise or in the years before the Civil War. Our most insightful primary source were James Madison's notes of the actual event of the compromise. We also searched the effects the compromise had on presidential elections and discovered websites that had some charts and descriptions showing the number of seats in House of Representatives between the South and Non-south states. By narrowing the viewpoint onto how the compromise was a reform, we learned that it was actually a result of the Great Compromise. Our research then linked the Great Compromise to the Three-Fifths Compromise, and we were able to build this site through hard work and dedication.
The website, while being a simple tool for expressing information, took several long hours to form. To take long, essay-like paragraphs and reduce them to mere bullets of quick facts is almost painful, and is undoubtedly time-consuming. Formulating the argument was fairly difficult, because for a long time we weren't sure what our argument was. However, we were able to overcome this as we created our website. Organizing certain events into either a revolution, reaction, or reform helped immensely in building each page of this site. In the end, our viewpoint on the three-fifths compromise as a reform fell into place and we were able to present our argument in a meaningful manner.
The theme of revolution, reaction, and reform is, as said before, easily met by the mere definition of a compromise. The revolution is the first argument that is presented: one person's view on a subject and what he wishes to be done. The reaction is the opposing view, the argument that beats down on the revolution. Eventually the two views are brought together and evened out to form the compromise: the reform. We took the Three-Fifths Compromise as a reform and found how it was made, and on the way discovered the viewpoints of the delegates of the Constitutional Convention. From the Great Compromise's creation, several hours of argument and debate over the issue of representation led to the writing of the clause of the Three-Fifths Compromise, which was a final decision and therefore a reform.
