In debates leading up to the 3/5 compromise northern states argued that:

a. a strong Federal government was necessary in order to ensure that slave states did not have an unfair economic advantageB. southern states should only be allowed to send representatives to the House of Representatives, not the senate

c. slaves should not be included when counting us states population to determine representation in Congress

d. slaves should be able to buy their freedom after working for certain number of years

C is correct

The northern states did not want all the slaves to be counted towards the population as it can take away representation from the north because south has a greater number of slaves' population and south can take advantage of having more representation. However north attempted several times to shift away the burden of taxation.

c. Slaves should not be included when counting a state's population to determine representation in Congress.

Explanation:

In 1787, the Three-Fifths Compromise was a consensus that was formed among the Northern and the southern states of the United States. This compromise was centered on the focus of the debate that if it was necessary or not necessary for slaves to be enumerated when putting into account its overall amount of residents on the basis of tax and any constitution intention.

The Northern states and the Southern states could not resolve or arrive at a consensus on the way that can be used to determine if slaves needs to be enumerated in the community.

This lead to the conclusion that each and every five slaves would be enumerated as the three for taxation and indicative intentions.