# The Three-Fifths Clause and the Constitutional Convention
## A Living History Program
### Pennsylvania State House, Philadelphia — Summer 1787
Running time: 30–35 minutes
Cast: George Washington (Presiding), James Madison (Moderator/Recorder), George Mason, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, John Dickinson
Visitor delegates: Gouverneur Morris, James Wilson, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Pierce Butler, Luther Martin, Oliver Ellsworth, Hugh Williamson *(cards provided separately)*
---
STAGE DIRECTIONS appear in *italics.*
Washington presides throughout and delivers one closing statement. He does not debate. His reactions are part of the performance.
Madison moderates, calls on speakers, and is visibly keeping notes throughout the program.
Lines are written to feel natural in performance — interpreters should feel free to vary wording while preserving the substance.
\[VISITOR CUE\] marks moments to invite visitor delegates to speak.
---
## OPENING FRAME
### *(Madison steps forward — briefly out of character)*
MADISON/MODERATOR:
Welcome to Philadelphia. The year is 1787\. You are seated as delegates to the Constitutional Convention — meeting here in the Pennsylvania State House, in the same room where the Declaration of Independence was signed eleven years ago.
The windows are closed. In July. In Philadelphia. The convention has voted to conduct its proceedings in complete secrecy — no newspapers, no letters home, no public accounts of what is said in this room. The founders believed that if the debates were public, no delegate would ever compromise on anything, and the convention would fail. So the windows stay closed, and we sweat.
We have been meeting since May. We have resolved many things. But one question has threatened to break this convention apart since the first week, and it has not been resolved.
The question is this: how shall enslaved people be counted?
For representation in the new Congress — for determining how many seats each state receives — shall we count the enslaved population? The Southern states say yes, fully. The Northern states say no — or at least, not without conditions. The compromise we have before us today, proposed by James Wilson of Pennsylvania, would count 60 percent of a state’s enslaved population for the purposes of taxation and representation.
That is the question before this convention today. And it is one of the most consequential decisions this body will make.
General Washington presides. I am James Madison of Virginia, and I keep the record.
You are delegates. You have a voice here.
*Steps back into character.*
---
## ACT I — THE SESSION IS CALLED TO ORDER
### *(In character — approx. 4 minutes)*
*Washington is seated at the front — dignified, still, watching everything. He does not speak yet. He stands to bring the session to order.*
WASHINGTON:
The convention is in session. Mr. Madison, please conduct the business at hand.
*He sits. He will not speak again until the closing.*
---
MADISON:
*(To the room — he has his notes open)*
Gentlemen. The question of representation has been before us in various forms since our earliest sessions. We have agreed on a bicameral legislature. We have agreed on proportional representation in the lower house. What we have not agreed on is how to count the population of states where a significant portion of the inhabitants are held in bondage.
The proposal before us — three-fifths of the enslaved population counted for both representation and direct taxation — is not entirely new. The ratio was proposed for determining each state’s responsibility for funding the federal union during the Articles of Confederation debates. It was rejected. It is before us again because without some accommodation of the Southern states' insistence on counting their enslaved population, this convention will end without a constitution.
*(Quietly)*
I am going to ask my colleagues to speak plainly today. This question deserves plainness.
Mr. Mason — you have asked to be heard first. The floor is yours.
---
## ACT II — THE DEBATE
### *(In character — approx. 16 minutes)*
MASON:
*(Rising — he is troubled, and it shows)*
I want to begin by saying something that may surprise some of my colleagues from Virginia: I find slavery morally indefensible. I have said so before and I will say it here, on the record that Mr. Madison is keeping.
Slavery is a slow poison corrupting the minds and morals of our people. I have watched what it does — to the enslaved, obviously, but also to the men who hold them. It produces a particular kind of arrogance in the master class. A disregard for the labor of others. A comfort with the idea that some human beings exist for the use of others. I do not want that poison embedded in the constitution of a free republic.
*(A pause — then, more quietly)*
I say this as a man who holds three hundred people in bondage. I am aware of the contradiction. I am not free of it and I speak with full knowledge of the difficulty before us.
If we count all people equally, including slaves, as insisted by the delegates from Georgia and South Carolina, the slave states will control a majority of the lower house, control the purse strings of the republic, and give the power to advance the slave-holder agendas.
If no slaves are counted, the delegates from South Carolina have pointed out that the people of their states will never ratify the constitution because their states would lack the power to protect their economies, which are built on the institution of slavery.
Neither of these possibilities has come to a vote because the outcome would clearly lead to disunion. So, today we consider a third option, a compromise that counts three fifths of people held in bondage. Though I prefer that none be counted, I consider choosing this compromise infinitely better than choosing disunion.
---
MADISON:
Mr. Sherman of Connecticut.
---
SHERMAN:
*(Measured — he believes this deeply, and needs the room to understand why)*
I have listened to Mr. Mason's argument, and I respect it. I share it. But I have arrived at a different conclusion, and I want to explain why.
The ideals that united in ‘76 — equality, liberty, the consent of the governed — are not yet reality. They are a promise. And the question I keep asking myself is this: who is most likely to redeem that promise? A union of thirteen states, bound together under a government strong enough to hold them accountable to their own declared principles? Or two separate confederacies — one North, one South — each going its own way?
*(Leaning forward)*
I am not making peace with slavery. I am refusing to give up on the people who suffer under it. The path — the only path — toward the eventual fulfillment of the promise we are writing is to keep the slave states inside a union built on that promise. To make them live alongside it. To make their children and grandchildren answer for the contradiction.
*(Quietly, but firmly)*
A union that contains slavery and calls it wrong is not the same as a confederacy that contains slavery and calls it right. That difference matters. It will matter more as the years pass.
I support this compromise— not because I believe it is just, but because I believe it is the price of keeping the people who suffer most within reach of justice.
---
MADISON:
Mr. Franklin.
---
FRANKLIN:
*(Slowly — he is eighty-one years old and does not stand easily. He speaks from his seat.)*
I am the President of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. I want that known before I say anything else.
I have spent the last years of my life — these years when most men my age are resting — working to end the institution of slavery in this country. Not because it is politically useful. Because it is wrong. Because every principle this nation claims to be founded on is violated by its existence.
*(A long pause)*
And I have sat in this room for three months and said very little about it. Because I believe — I have concluded, at the cost of some portion of my soul — that a union which contains slavery is better than no union, and better than the alternative, which is Southern states that make their own peace with Britain and become permanent slave republics beyond our reach.
*(He looks directly at the room)*
I want the young men in this room to understand what the old men are doing today. We are making a bargain. We are telling ourselves it is temporary. We are trusting that the principles we are writing into this document will eventually consume the exception we are carving out for slavery.
We may be right. I hope we are right.
---
MADISON:
Mr. Morris.
---
MORRIS:
*(Practical — a merchant to his core)*
I will speak briefly, because I think the moral arguments have been made, and I have a different kind of argument to offer.
I am a man of commerce. I think about how things work in practice. And I will tell you what I have concluded about this clause from a practical standpoint.
The Southern states' economies are built on enslaved labor. That is a fact, whatever we think of it. Their tobacco, their rice, their indigo — those products move through Northern ports, on Northern ships, and create wealth that flows through this entire country. We are commercially entangled with slavery whether or not we name it in this document.
Some here think to reject this compromise with the moral argument that it supports the institution of slavery. But I ask them plainly, do you not support that institution each morn when you don your linen coat; was not its flax processed by enslaved hands? Do you not support that institution with each morsel of bread taken at your noonday repast, was not the wheat harvested and threshed by enslaved hands? Do you not support that institution with each puff of your pipe drawn near the evening fire, was not the tobacco cultivated by enslaved hands?
Do not pretend that this is a moral decision. It is entirely practical, perhaps the only means to preserve our union.
*(A beat)*
I am not proud of that argument. But I believe it is true.
---
MADISON:
Mr. Dickinson — your experience on this topic is more varied than most. I believe you wish to speak.
---
DICKINSON:
*(Rising — he is not well, and carries himself carefully, but his voice is steady)*
I want to say something that I suspect will make some men in this room uncomfortable. Not the gentlemen from South Carolina — they will be entirely comfortable with it. The men who will be uncomfortable are my colleagues who have argued most passionately against slavery this morning.
*(Looking at Mason)*
Mr. Mason has told us he owns three hundred slaves and cannot resolve the contradiction. I understand that. I lived inside that contradiction for many years myself.
*(A pause)*
I no longer do. I freed my slaves. All of them.
I say that not to claim moral superiority — I am well aware that I profited from their labor for decades before I acted, and that no act of manumission gives back those years. But I say it because I think it matters, in a room where we are debating principles, to know which men have acted on theirs and which have not yet found the courage to do so.
*(To the room)*
I find counting any slave for purposes of representation wrong. I find it wrong precisely because it rewards slaveholding with political power. I wish this convention had the courage to refuse it. What will be said of this principle of founding a right to govern freemen on a power derived from slaves?
*(Quietly)*
But I have also watched this convention for three months. I have watched what happens when the South Carolina and Georgia delegations feel threatened. And I have concluded — reluctantly, painfully — that Mr. Sherman is correct. A union with this clause is better than the alternative.
*(A long beat — he looks at his hands)*
I will vote yes. I will not pretend it costs me nothing. It costs me a great deal. But I believe the union we are forging will eventually demand that its laws match its principles. I am placing my trust in that belief.
I hope it is not misplaced.
---
---
## VISITOR DELEGATE SEGMENT
### *\[VISITOR CUES — approx. 8 minutes\]*
*Madison calls on visitor delegates by name and state. Give each 30–60 seconds. The debate should feel genuinely contested — opposing cards should speak before supporting ones where possible.*
MADISON: *(Example call)*
The chair recognizes the delegate from *(state)*. Sir, where do you stand?
*Suggested brief responses:*
MASON *(to an opposing visitor):*
"You have named exactly what troubles me. I am glad someone else in this room can see it."
MASON *(to a pro-compromise visitor):*
"I understand your reasoning. I simply cannot follow it to your conclusion."
SHERMAN *(to a pro-union visitor):*
"That is the argument, stated plainly. I thank you for it."
SHERMAN *(to an anti-compromise visitor):*
"And if South Carolina walks out? What then? A perfect document governing nine states?"
FRANKLIN *(to any visitor):*
"You are wrestling with the right question. I have been wrestling with it for three months. I am not sure any of us will leave this room having answered it honestly."
MADISON *(to any visitor):*
"I am recording this. Your words will be part of the record of this convention. Say what you believe."
MORRIS *(to any visitor):*
"You are right that it is wrong. The question is whether wrong and necessary can occupy the same document."
DICKINSON *(to any visitor):*
"I freed my slaves. I know what it costs. I also know it did not free anyone in South Carolina. That is the problem this clause does not solve — and that this union may eventually have to."
---
## ACT III — THE RECKONING
### *(In character — approx. 4 minutes)*
MADISON:
*(To the room)*
The chair will call the question. Before we vote, I want to name what we are actually deciding — because I think we should be clear about it.
We are deciding whether the political power of slaveholders will be amplified by the number of people they hold in bondage. Whether a South Carolina rice planter will sit in our new Congress representing not just the free people who elected him, but also — in a mathematical sense — the people he owns.
That is what yes means today.
*(A beat)*
And no means — potentially — no constitution. No union. Thirteen states going separate ways, some of them making their own arrangements with foreign powers, some of them building slave empires beyond the reach of the principles we are trying to write into law.
Those are the options before us. I have made my decision. I believe union—even with this compromise—is the path to eventual justice.
---
*Each character states their vote — one sentence:*
MASON:
I vote yes.
SHERMAN:
I vote yes. For union. With grief.
FRANKLIN:
*(From his seat)*
Yes. God forgive us.
MORRIS:
Yes.
---
DICKINSON:
Yes. I have already done what I could do. Now I must trust the rest to this document — and to the people who will live under it.
---
MADISON:
*(To the visitor delegates)*
The question is called. All those in favor of counting three-fifths of a state’s enslaved population for purposes of taxation and representation — signify by raising your hand.
*(Visitor delegates vote)*
All those opposed.
*(Madison counts — announces result)*
The compromise is adopted.
---
*A long silence. Washington, who has watched everything, does not move.*
*Madison turns to him.*
MADISON:
General Washington — the chair has been silent all morning. I think this body deserves to hear from you.
---
WASHINGTON:
*(Rising — slowly, with weight)*
I have presided over this convention. I have heard every argument. I have watched men of genuine conscience arrive at different conclusions from the same facts, and I have held my tongue — because I believed that my role was to hold this room together, not to push it in any particular direction.
Eleven years ago, we united under a document that proclaims all men to be created equal, with inalienable rights to life and liberty. The articles we came to refine had not the strength to protect that proclamation. Now we are in the midst of instituting a new government. We are laying its foundation on principles and organizing its powers in a way that seems most likely to enliven that proclamation. Today we adopted a compromise, finding ground upon which all may stand, though none may stand there without discomfort. Such is not weakness. It is the labor by which this union, so miraculously protected by the hand of divine providence, may yet continue.
*(He sits.)*
This session is adjourned.
---
## CLOSING FRAME
### *(Madison steps briefly out of character — approx. 2 minutes)*
MADISON/MODERATOR:
Thank you.
The three-fifths clause was adopted and written into Article One of the Constitution. It remained in force until the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868 — eighty-one years later.
George Mason refused to sign the Constitution. He was one of only three delegates present who declined. He went home to Gunston Hall and spent the rest of his life arguing for a Bill of Rights — which was eventually added as the first ten amendments in 1791\. He died in 1792, still believing the Constitution was dangerously flawed.
Roger Sherman signed. Robert Morris signed.
James Madison signed and spent the rest of his long life explaining what the document meant.
Benjamin Franklin gave a closing speech on the final day of the convention urging every delegate to sign despite their reservations. He said he had lived long enough to know that he might be wrong about things he was certain of — and that a unanimous convention was worth setting aside personal objections. He signed. He died three years later.
John Dickinson signed — though not in person. He had fallen ill and left the convention before the final session. He asked his Delaware colleague George Read to sign for him. He was one of the few delegates who had already freed his enslaved people before arriving. History has not given him enough credit for that.
George Washington signed. He freed his enslaved people in his will — the only Founding Father to do so. He did not speak publicly about slavery during his lifetime.
Thank you for being part of the Constitutional Convention.
---
## DIRECTOR'S NOTES
Washington's silence: This is the most powerful performance choice in the program. Washington should be visibly present throughout — reacting, watching, occasionally exchanging glances with Madison — but never speaking until the closing. When he finally rises, the room should feel it. His closing statement should be delivered quietly, without drama. The weight comes from what has preceded it.
Mason: He is the moral center of this program. His opening statement — *I own three hundred slaves. I am aware of that contradiction* — must be delivered with full honesty, not as self-flagellation but as clear-eyed acknowledgment. He is the most intellectually honest person in the room, and also the most conflicted.
Franklin: He speaks from his seat — he is 81 and frail. His three lines carry enormous weight precisely because he says so little.
Sherman: He is a supporter of this compromise. In fact, he seconded the motion when it was initially made. He accepts compromise and a necessary part of the political process.
Madison: He carries the most complex burden — he is simultaneously the moderator, the recorder, and one of the architects of the compromise.
Dickinson: He holds moral high ground in this program — he has already acted on his stated principles by freeing his enslaved people. His speech should not be triumphant; it should be honest about the limits of his own action (*"I profited from their labor for decades before I acted"*). The line that lands hardest is his implied challenge to Mason: *which men have acted on theirs and which have not yet found the courage.* Deliver it directly, without cruelty — it is an observation, not an attack. His vote is the most quietly resolved in the room.
The visitor delegate segment: The cards include aggressive pro-slavery voices (Pinckney, Butler) as well as opponents (Gouverneur Morris, Luther Martin). For maximum impact, call the pro-slavery voices early — let the audience hear the argument for counting enslaved people as property before they hear the opposition. The discomfort that creates is intentional and honest.
A note on historical accuracy: The convention was conducted in secret. The debates we know about come almost entirely from Madison's notes, which he revised over the following decades and which were not published until after his death in 1836\. Some historians believe Madison softened certain passages. The dramatic license in this program is in making explicit what the notes record more obliquely.
## Visitor Cards:
[Luther Martin of Maryland](card1.html)
[Pierce Butler of South Carolina](card2.html)
[Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania](card3.html)
[James Wilson of Pennsylvania](card4.html)
[Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina](card5.html)
[Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut](card6.html)
[Hugh Williamson of North Carolina](card7.html)