Critique the following constitutional provision protecting the property of slave owners. What would be an advantage of this policy?

Question

“Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other Persons.”

A. The national government assesses taxation on an equal basis, regardless of state population size.
B. Identifying enslaved people as property ensures that Southern slave states remain part of the Union.
C. States retain the power to decide what taxes will be paid to the federal government, thus increasing state autonomy.
D. Taxes are divided on an equal basis regardless of race, ensuring taxation is fair.

Answer 1

The answer is B. Identifying enslaved people as property ensures that Southern slave states remain part of the Union.

This provision would have been advantageous for the Southern slave states as it protected their economic and social system based on slavery. By counting enslaved people, who were considered property in the Southern states, as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of taxation and representation, this provision gave the Southern states more political power in Congress and ensured that they would not be at a disadvantage in terms of representation. This helped to maintain the balance between the slave and non-slave states, which played a crucial role in keeping the Union intact.