The compromise over slavery affected representation in which national body?

• A. The Senate
• B. The House of Representatives
• C. The Supreme Court
• D. The Electoral College

Answer: (B)

Counting enslaved people for representation was settled by the Three-Fifths Compromise, which determined that enslaved individuals would count as three-fifths of a person for representing a state's population in the House of Representatives. Since seats in the House are apportioned by population, this directly increased southern states’ representation, giving them more influence in Congress. The Senate, in contrast, has equal representation with two senators per state regardless of population, so it wasn’t affected by how enslaved people were counted. The Electoral College size depends on the total number of Representatives plus Senators, but the change that mattered for representation was in the House. Therefore, the national body impacted by the slavery compromise is the House of Representatives.