Question

Did including enslaved people within a state’s population provide a greater benefit to Northern states or Southern states?

Answer 1

Including enslaved people within a state's population provided a greater benefit to Southern states. This is because the three-fifths compromise in the United States Constitution counted enslaved individuals as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of determining representation in Congress. This gave Southern states more political power in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College, as they had larger populations due to the inclusion of enslaved individuals. This allowed Southern states to pass legislation that benefitted slave owners and their economic interests. Additionally, the presence of enslaved individuals in the population provided cheap labor for Southern agriculture and industry, leading to economic benefits for the region. In contrast, Northern states did not rely as heavily on slave labor and did not have the same political advantage from including enslaved individuals in their populations.