09-30-2016, 04:34 PM
(09-30-2016, 04:25 PM)michaelsean Wrote: It might have guaranteed an edge as opposed to 5/5, but 3/5 still helped the South.
That's the point. When the Constitution was being written the southern states wanted to count all of the slaves for the purposes of representation. They would never have signed on to the document that said only free persons would be counted, and the free states in the north would not have signed if they counted all slaves. three-fifths was the number that was most equitable, but still gave an edge to the free states. Not two-thirds, or five-eights, or any of that, but three-fifths. It was a compromise just like the Connecticut compromise.
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
