Login or Sign Up
Menu
Ask a New Question

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.”

who is excluded in a state’s “respective numbers”?

In a state's "respective numbers", the phrase "excluding Indians not taxed" refers specifically to Native Americans who were not subject to taxation and therefore were not counted in the population for the purposes of apportioning representatives and taxes. However, the phrase "three fifths of all other Persons" refers to slaves who were also excluded in a state's "respective numbers". The Three-Fifths Compromise was a controversial agreement reached during the Constitutional Convention in 1787 that determined how slaves would be counted when apportioning representatives and taxes to each state.