What debate did the Three-Fifths compromise settle?

The 3/5ths Compromise settled the debate of how slaves were going to be counted in the House of Representatives. The southern states wanted to count each slave in the census so that those states would have a majority representation while the northern states did not want to count the slaves so that there would be equality in the House. Henry Clay proposed that 3/5 of the slave population would be counted in the census, thus settling the two sides.

The three-fifths compromise was an agreement between Southern and Northern states reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787, during which the basic framework of the United States was established. Under this compromise, slaves were counted as three-fifths of a human being for the purpose of taxation and representation in Congress. As a result, slave-owners and the Southern states got a great deal of political clout.

As all compromises do, the three-fifths compromise started as a dispute. Most of the Northern states did not want to count slaves at all, arguing that they should be treated as property, since they didn't have votes or any other power. The Southern states, however, wanted to count slaves as people so that they would get more representation in Congress, solidifying their political power. The North resisted this, rightly fearing that counting slaves as people would increase the Congressional seats apportioned to the South, thereby making the South extremely formidable.