Final answer:
The Three-Fifths Compromise principally benefited the southern states by allowing them to count slaves as three-fifths of a person for representation and taxation, thereby gaining more political power without higher taxes.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Three-Fifths Compromise benefited the southern states which had large populations of slaves. This agreement allowed for slaves to be counted as three-fifths of a person for both representation in the House of Representatives and for federal taxation purposes. Therefore, southern states gained more congressional seats than if slaves had not been counted at all but fewer than if slaves had been fully counted. This increased representation gave the southern states more political power in the federal government, particularly in the House of Representatives, while avoiding a higher tax burden that would have come with counting each slave as a full person.
As the Compromise of 1850 later highlighted, the sectional divide between the North and South over the issue of slavery continued to be a contentious point. The Three-Fifths Compromise was a reflection of the ongoing tension and struggle to balance the interests of the slaveholding South and the free states of the North. The permanent resolution of these tensions would not come until the Civil War and the subsequent abolition of slavery in all states.