Question

What was a common element in the two key debates at the convention—one regarding representation in Congress and the other regarding slavery? Give details to support your answer.

Answer 1

During the Constitutional Convention, there were many key debates, but the representation in Congress and slavery were the main problems the Convention needed to solve.

Regarding the representation, there were two options: 1) each state in the Constitutional Convention had one vote, as they did under the Articles of the Constitution or 2) representation should be based on population.

The problem was that if the representation was based only on population, states with a larger population would have more power and this would break the Union principle of equality between states.

The solution was the two propositions combined: The Connecticut Plan. There would be a bicameral congress. One which the states would have equal representation regardless of size and other with representation according to the state’s size.

Slavery was also a main problem in the Convention, it was linked to the representation problem because if slaves were considered people they would count into the population, and they would have all rights if they were not, they should not be counted. The problem was solved with the three-fifths clause. Slaves would be counted as three-fifths of a person when computing the number of population that would reflect in the representatives in Congress.