Under the Three-Fifths Compromise, how was a state's population determined?

• A. The total free population plus three-fifths of the slave population
• B. The total slave population counted as full persons
• C. The combined free and enslaved population counted as full
• D. Only the free population was counted

Answer: (A)

Under the Three-Fifths Compromise, a state’s population for representation and taxation was based on counting free people in full and enslaved people as partial persons. Specifically, each free person counted fully, while enslaved individuals were counted as three-fifths of a person. So the population used was the total free population plus three-fifths of the enslaved population. This approach was a compromise between free-state and slaveholding interests on how enslaved people should influence representation in Congress and taxation. The other options would treat enslaved people as full persons, count them as full within the total, or exclude them entirely, which is not what the compromise did.