Chapter 7: A compromise on slavery

Once that much is settled, the focus turns to the exact make-up of the Legislature, generally regarded by the delegates as the most important of the three “branches.” Several contentious debates threaten to abort the convention before a series of compromises are reached.

One major roadblock to union is cleared when Pennsylvania delegate Roger Sherman proposes the “Enumeration Clause” whereby the South gets to include its slaves as 3/5^th’s of a white man in its population counts. Another involves commitment to a second Legislative chamber, the Senate. It provides particular comfort to three groups at once: the small states who gain equal voting power (two seats) there with the larger states; the Anti-Federalists who see it as a means to check and balance any aggressive power grabs by the national government; and the Southerners who are intent on protecting their rights as slave holders. (Trying to equalize the number of Senate seats from Slave vs. Free States, for the sake of regional harmony, will occupy many a congressional agenda to follow.)