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>the electoral college was intended to give smaller states more power than they would have as a result of their population size alone. Thanks to the 3/5's comp

• TMWNN 7y ago
  The Three Fifths Compromise had nothing to do with the Electoral College. Slave states gained more power in the Electoral College from the extra 3/5 votes, but a) the compromise itself had nothing to do with the Electoral College's creation or design, and b) 3/5 of a vote gave less power to slave states than their preference, a full vote for each slave.
  • undersuit 7y ago
    >the compromise itself had nothing to do with the Electoral College's creation or design Then what were they compromising on? The formation and continuation of the US Government. Without the compromise there is no Electoral College.
    • beerandt 7y ago
      That's not true at all. The 3/5s compromise affected the resulting balance of power, but the system itself was about preventing any one state from dominating the federal government. (New York was the concern at the time.) Even if slavery didn't exist, the small state / big state dynamic still required a mechanism to balance the voting power between states. (This is often referred to as the Connecticut compromise.)
• bch132 7y ago
  Would you have preferred 0/5ths or 5/5ths?
  • undersuit 7y ago
    I'd have preferred we not have slaves.
  • mirimir 7y ago
    I'd also have preferred no slaves. But "0/5ths" for slaves would have been consistent with them being slaves. It's not like they were 60% free.