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Compromise Of New Jersey Essay

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Following America’s declared independence from England, the new country went through years of effort to establish a government that would satisfy the needs of large, and small states. The greatest, and most influential action of this time was the Connecticut Compromise at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 in Philadelphia. This compromise directly affected the amount of representation from each state, and laid the grounds for the government system we are familiar with today. Of the participating states, New Jersey played a significant role in the structure of the future government of the United States. Although New Jersey did not accomplish their goal of eliminating state boundaries, it managed to include the denial of slaves being counted into representation in the …show more content…

During the Constitutional Convention, delegates were considering how to distribute representation for each state, consequently, the question regarding whether slaves should be counted towards the population arose. Southern states feared that not counting slaves as a part of their populations would give them less representatives in Congress, thus allowing larger Northern states, like Massachusetts, Virginia, and Pennsylvania to overwhelm, and out vote the South in issues regarding slave trade. Likewise, the North did not want to surrender their population advantage in Congress either. The compromise they reached was set forth in Article 1, Section 2 of the United States constitution. The compromise they reached arbitrarily counted every five slaves as three individuals. While many delegates argued that slaves were property, and not people, neither the North or South fully accomplished their goals, as slaves were counted minorly towards population. However, the provisions still prohibited slaves from voting, which was still considered a “win” for the state of New

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