What did the Three-Fifths Compromise decide about counting enslaved people for representation and taxation?

• A. Enslaved people would be counted as full persons
• B. Enslaved people would be counted as two-fifths of a person
• C. Enslaved people would be counted as three-fifths of a person
• D. Enslaved people would not be counted at all

Answer: (C)

This question probes how enslaved people were counted for representation in the House and for federal taxes. At the Constitutional Convention, delegates needed a way to balance the political power of slaveholding states with concerns about counting enslaved people. The agreement reached was that enslaved individuals would be counted as three-fifths of a person for both representation and taxation. This meant enslaved people contributed to a state’s number of representatives but not as full persons, giving Southern states more influence than if enslaved people weren’t counted at all, yet less than if they were counted as whole individuals. The three-fifths rule shaped political power for decades and was later superseded by constitutional amendments that changed how apportionment worked.