“Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.”Critique the following constitutional provision protecting the property of slave owners. What would be an advantage of this policy?
[] Identifying enslaved people as property ensures that Southern slave states remain part of the Union.
[] Taxes are divided on an equal basis regardless of race, ensuring taxation is fair.
[] The national government assesses taxation on an equal basis, regardless of state population size.
[] States retain the power to decide what taxes will be paid to the federal government, thus increasing state autonomy.
One advantage of this policy is that it helped to ensure that Southern slave states remained part of the Union. By counting enslaved individuals as three-fifths of a person, it increased the population count of these states, giving them more representation in the House of Representatives and therefore more political power within the Union. This helped to maintain a balance between free and slave states, preventing the issue of slavery from causing the Union to split apart.
However, it is important to note that this provision was a compromise made to appease slave states, and it ultimately upheld and perpetuated the institution of slavery. Enslaved people were treated as property and denied the basic rights and freedoms that free individuals were entitled to. This provision protected the property interests of slave owners at the expense of the humanity of enslaved individuals.
Overall, while this provision may have had the advantage of maintaining the unity of the Union, it did so at the cost of perpetuating the unjust system of slavery.