I've found myself in a debate about the 3/5ths clause of the US Constitution. The precise wording is such:
"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."
I know that the standard interpretation is that the phrase "all other Persons" means everyone not specifically mentioned previously (i.e. slaves) should be counted as 3/5ths of a person. Does the previous phrase "excluding Indians not taxed" have any baring on the 3/5ths mentioned immediately after it? Is there any discussion in the debates about the meaning of the 3/5ths compromise that has anything to do with Indians paying taxes at 3/5ths the rate of other people?
I believe this is a reference to the fact that until 1924 American Indians and Alaska Natives were not considered U.S. citizens unless they had deliberately gone through the naturalization process. In 1924, the U.S. Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act, which declared, "all non citizen Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States be, and they are hereby, declared to be citizens of the United States ..."