Civil War of Words

[bmw]

I find it rather ironic that you insist you want the "true history of America" taught in our schools, while in the very same paragraph you present a blatant distortion of history, re: the 3/5 clause in the original US Constitution. That clause was there for the purpose of REPRESENTATION. Specifically, it was part of a compromise during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 designed to PREVENT slave-owners from being disproportionately represented in the House of Representatives. The people who advocated for that clause did so to WEAKEN the level of representation that slave-owners had.

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I find it rather ironic that you insist you want the "true history of America" taught in our schools, while in the very same paragraph you present a blatant distortion of history, re: the 3/5 clause in the original US Constitution. That clause was there for the purpose of REPRESENTATION. Specifically, it was part of a compromise during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 designed to PREVENT slave-owners from being disproportionately represented in the House of Representatives. The people who advocated for that clause did so to WEAKEN the level of representation that slave-owners had.

No that’s not correct.

The 3/5ths compromise resulted in the southern slave states getting a third MORE representatives than they otherwise would have had if the slaves were not counted and also a third more electoral votes. It wasn’t some back door plot to weaken slavery but rather it added power to those states. The secondary reason was that the northern states were rather keen on seeing the higher tax burden shifted to the southern states. The higher their population even in fractions the more the tax burden shifts to the south.

In fairness free blacks were counted as 1 full person.

Thomas Jefferson included some language in the original version of the constitution before it was ratified that declared slavery bad but it was removed for several reasons.

[Deleted User 14896]

2) I will grant that you personally (I'm assuming you are a Caucasian American, forgive me if I'm incorrect) are not responsible for what happened to African Americans in the 1700's and 1800's. You are not racist and as a country America is getting better at treating all of its citizens equally. But that doesn't mean you can hide from your (and my) racist ancestors. We need an education system and agenda that teaches the true history of America. World society would not stand for the Germans scrubbing their history books to erase all mentions of the Holocaust. Why should we be allowed to do the same?

Interesting post.
As for myself, my mom's family migrated from Germany to South Dakota in 1880. My dad's family came from Quebec to Detroit in 1867. I just did a bit of googling. It's rather sketchy just trying to find an exact percentage (for me anyway). From what I seen, all agreed that most Americans are descended from ancestors that arrived after the Civil War.

[FakeAndyStuart]

Sorry sir, once again you need to read your history.

The Three/Fifths Compromise

Having failed to secure the abolishment of slavery, some delegates from the Northern states sought to make representation dependent on the size of a state’s free population. Southern delegates, on the other hand, threatened to abandon the convention if enslaved individuals were not counted. Eventually, the framers agreed on a compromise that called for representation in the House of Representatives to be apportioned on the basis of a state’s free population plus three-fifths of its enslaved population. This agreement came to be known as the three-fifths compromise

Granting slaveholding states the right to count three-fifths of their population of enslaved individuals when it came to apportioning representatives to Congress meant that those states would thus be perpetually overrepresented in national politics.

But again, there is a telling quote in the article -

However, this same ratio was to be used to determine the federal tax contribution required of each state, thus increasing the direct federal tax burden of slaveholding states. Provision was also added to the Constitution for a law permitting the recapture of fugitive slaves

So, the Northern states allowed themselves to be bought off so the Southern states could keep their slaves.

Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson came to the idea that slavery was not the way to run the country. Jefferson during his presidency worked on a "gradual emancipation" plan and banned importing slaves from other countries. Washington worked to free all his slaves after his death. But both very early in the creation of the United States, came to the same conclusion - Slavery was part of the economic engine that funded this new country.

And face it - slavery was 100% based on the color of one's skin.

[FakeAndyStuart]

2) I will grant that you personally (I'm assuming you are a Caucasian American, forgive me if I'm incorrect) are not responsible for what happened to African Americans in the 1700's and 1800's. You are not racist and as a country America is getting better at treating all of its citizens equally. But that doesn't mean you can hide from your (and my) racist ancestors. We need an education system and agenda that teaches the true history of America. World society would not stand for the Germans scrubbing their history books to erase all mentions of the Holocaust. Why should we be allowed to do the same?

Interesting post.
As for myself, my mom's family migrated from Germany to South Dakota in 1880. My dad's family came from Quebec to Detroit in 1867. I just did a bit of googling. It's rather sketchy just trying to find an exact percentage (for me anyway). From what I seen, all agreed that most Americans are descended from ancestors that arrived after the Civil War.

Fair question, however please note that the German economy in the 1700's also depended on transporting Africans to America in exchange for goods and money. However, I'm thinking of rewriting this particular passage as it might not actually reflect what I was trying to say. Thanks.