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THE THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE

“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.”

What does a state’s “respective numbers” mean?

A state's "respective numbers" refers to the total population of the state, which includes all free persons and those who are bound to service for a term of years. However, for the purposes of apportioning representatives and direct taxes, the Constitution at the time (before the 13th Amendment) considered enslaved individuals as three-fifths of a person. This means that for every five enslaved individuals, they would only count as three persons when determining a state's total population for representation purposes.