What rationale supported the Three-Fifths Compromise?

The rationale behind the Three-Fifths Compromise was primarily rooted in the need for greater southern representation in Congress. Southern states wanted to count enslaved individuals in their populations to increase their representation in the House of Representatives. However, since enslaved people were considered property and not citizens, there was a disagreement on how they should be counted for representation purposes.

The compromise established that each enslaved person would be counted as three-fifths of a person, which provided a mechanism for Southern states to bolster their political power without granting the enslaved population full rights or recognition. This agreement was significant in shaping the structure of Congress and highlighted the compromises made regarding slavery during the framing of the Constitution, illustrating the complex political dynamics of that era.

The other options fail to capture the nuances of this compromise, as the desire to abolish slavery and the belief in equal rights for all individuals were not motivations for the states involved in the agreement. Rather, the focus was on maximizing political power and influence. The necessity to maintain the status quo of slave counting is not the same as the rationale that drove the political negotiations during the Constitutional Convention.