Was the Three-Fifths Compromise Racists?

Got into a conversation a few days ago with someone who thought the three-fifths compromise was racist because it considered black slaves to be worth three-fifths of a white person. Not true, I told him, and that, in fact, it was a concession by the South.

It was all about population and representation. Article one, Section two of the Constitution states the number of representatives a state will have in the Congress will be based on the population of that state “by adding the whole number of free persons and three fifths on all other persons.”

The compromise was part of the challenging, but required, political negotiating, and if it has not been adopted the southern states would not have joined the Union and the United States would not have been formed as one nation.

The Constitution does not say a slave is not a person, it overtly states that they are “persons.” Nor does it say that slaves were three-fifths of a person. It wasn’t about what a slave was worth. Rather, it was about how many representatives a state would have in the House of Representatives. Naturally, the southern states wanted to count slaves in their population because it would give more representatives. The northern states didn’t want them counted at all in an opposite position.

Thus, the three-fifths compromise surfaced. Only three-fifths of the slaves would be counted in the southern states.

But why didn’t the northern states demand that the South not count slaves at all? From what I know of history, it was likely that the slave states would have formed their own country and we’d have two countries adjacent to one another with one being free and the other being slave.

Without the three-fifths compromise, there would have been no United States of America.

Think I’m wrong? Add your comments via my website where my blog is posted at https://www.frankvictoriaauthor.com/blog.

Frank

Frank Victoria is an award-winning author and screenwriter. He’s been an Amazon bestseller with his recent book,The Founders’ Plot, a political thriller for our times. He donates proceeds of his books to Tunnels to Towers and Fisher House, helping military veterans and first responders. His novella,The Ultimate Bet is available on his website and Amazon. Check out his new website:Frank M. Victoria

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