Which constitutional compromise counted enslaved people as three-fifths for representation and direct taxation?

The Three-Fifths Compromise counted enslaved people as three-fifths for representation and direct taxation.

Delegates adopted the formula during the Constitutional Convention in 1787. It stated that three-fifths of the enslaved population would be counted when determining a state’s population for representation in the House and for certain direct taxes. The arrangement addressed a dispute between states with large enslaved populations and states with smaller or no enslaved populations.

The compromise did not mean that enslaved people had three-fifths of a vote. Enslaved people could not vote, and the rule increased the political representation of slaveholding states by counting part of the enslaved population toward their congressional totals. It also reflected the convention’s failure to resolve slavery.

The formula remained in the Constitution until the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868. That amendment replaced the rule with a requirement that representation be based on counting the whole number of people in each state, while also establishing equal protection and citizenship principles.