Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3:

"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.
The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first
Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent
Term of ten years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct."

The best collections of original source materials on the meaning of (and
debates over) this clause are to be found in Philip B. Kurland and Ralph
Lerner, eds., The Founders' Constitution (1987), vol.2, pp.86-144; and
John P. Kaminski, ed., A Necessary Evil? Slavery and the Debate over the
Constitution (1995), pp.18-23, 43-54, passim (see index).

The "whole Number of free Persons"--as determined by the federal census
takers--has always included groups ineligible to vote. In that sense, the
voting "clout" of many different states has been artificially inflated or
deflated by their having above- or below-average numbers of non-voters of
various kinds in the total population (children, women, new immigrants, et
al.). Slaves are unusual in being the only group included *partially* in
the total basis for representation/taxation. All others were included
(100%), save for "Indians not taxed," who were excluded (0%).



Douglas Deal
Professor of History and Director of General Education
State University of New York at Oswego
Oswego, NY 13126
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(315)-312-5631 (voice mail)
(315)-312-3577 (FAX)

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