The second part of the 3/5ths compromise was beneficial to the South. Taxation was based on state population. There was, as all Freepers know, no direct taxation on individuals. The tax was owed by the states and based on their population. The South wanted slaves counted 100% for representation and not counted at all for taxation. 3/5ths for each purpose was the eventual compromise. Also, at the time of the Convention the future of slavery was in doubt. Tobacco fields were in decline and cotton because of its troublesome seeds was not worth the effort, especially since it had to be exported to England to make any real money for the planter. Only South Carolina’s and coastal Georgia’s rice production held the promise of continued return. So slavery was in fact petering out. It was the synchronicity of two independent events, Whitney’s Gin and Slater’s water powered mill that saved slavery and tied Northern prosperity to the existence of Southern slavery.
I will add a third factor, Jackson’s victory over the Creeks in the War of 1812. It opened the territories of the then Southwest to development.
Yup!