Facts About the Three-fifths Compromise and What It Meant

Bottom line, the Three-fifths Compromise was adopted into the Constitution as a way for states to count slaves as part of the population for taxation and representation.

Southern states didn't want to consider slaves as human beings for federal taxation purposes, but did want them counted as people for representation purposes. The Northern states felt the opposite. They wanted slaves to count toward the population when it came to taxing the Southern states but didn't want them to count as part of the population that representation in the House was based upon.

The Three-fifths Compromise was a means for each state to have so-called proper representation in the House while also paying more in taxes based on their population. The compromise was reached because it helped appease each side's wishes without completely disregarding one or the other. Meanwhile, as their very existence as people was being debated in whichever way would best benefit wealthy white men, slaves themselves received nothing but horror.

Below is more info concerning how this law came about.

Recently, this subject came up in the Senate as several Black lawmakers questioned new education proposals regarding teaching American history. Tennessee Republican Rep. Justin Lafferty falsely declared that the racist policy, which claimed a slave was three-fifths of a person, was adopted for “the purpose of ending slavery.” Not true!