Three-fifths of the slave population was counted for purposes of representation and taxation.

Three-fifths of the slave population was counted for purposes of representation and taxation.

• A. Slavery Abolition
• B. Importation Ban
• C. Three-Fifths Compromise
• D. Fugitive Slave Law

Answer: (C)

The main idea here is how the Constitution dealt with counting enslaved people for political power and fiscal purposes. At the Constitutional Convention, delegates argued over whether enslaved people should be counted at all for determining representation in Congress and for calculating taxes. The resolution was to count enslaved individuals as three-fifths of a person. This meant each state’s representation in the House and its share of federal taxes were based on that partial count, giving the Southern states more influence than if enslaved people had not been counted at all but less than if they were counted like free people. This approach was a practical compromise intended to quiet the dispute between Northern and Southern states and keep the new framework of government together. The Three-Fifths Compromise is the label for this arrangement, and it specifically ties the counting of enslaved people to both representation and taxation in the early United States. Other options refer to different issues: abolition aims to end slavery, the importation ban concerns stopping the slave trade, and the Fugitive Slave Law deals with recapturing escaped enslaved people. None of these address how enslaved people were counted for representation and taxes, which is why this choice is the correct one.

The main idea here is how the Constitution dealt with counting enslaved people for political power and fiscal purposes. At the Constitutional Convention, delegates argued over whether enslaved people should be counted at all for determining representation in Congress and for calculating taxes. The resolution was to count enslaved individuals as three-fifths of a person. This meant each state’s representation in the House and its share of federal taxes were based on that partial count, giving the Southern states more influence than if enslaved people had not been counted at all but less than if they were counted like free people.

This approach was a practical compromise intended to quiet the dispute between Northern and Southern states and keep the new framework of government together. The Three-Fifths Compromise is the label for this arrangement, and it specifically ties the counting of enslaved people to both representation and taxation in the early United States.

Other options refer to different issues: abolition aims to end slavery, the importation ban concerns stopping the slave trade, and the Fugitive Slave Law deals with recapturing escaped enslaved people. None of these address how enslaved people were counted for representation and taxes, which is why this choice is the correct one.