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GOP lawmaker: Three-Fifths Compromise was to end slavery
Associated Press ^ | May 4, 2021 | Kimberlee Kruesi

Posted on 05/04/2021 7:16:47 PM PDT by Olog-hai

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To: Meatspace

I think you’re either being intentionally obtuse or you’re a closet lefty. Of course the slaves didn’t accept their bondage and of course they weren’t consulted about the decision to continue to allow slavery. I’m not intending to excuse slavery, just providing an explanation for why it was allowed to continue to exist. The FOUNDERS were the ones who decided not to try to end slavery in the late 18th century. Most of them believed slavery was morally wrong, but allowed it to continue as a necessary evil. They indeed thought that economic forces at work (namely massive immigration and industrialization) that had essentially killed slavery in the North would likewise eventually do so in the South. Massive demand for cotton as a result of industrialization of the textile industry combined with the invention of the cotton gin, allowing the crop to be easily processed by unskilllabor, thwarted that vision.

Obviously this led to the entrenchment of slavery in the South, with all of the rationalizations that Southerners put forth in its defense — the Bible sanctions slavery, the slaves are better taken care of and better off than poor immigrant factory workers in the North, etc. It’s pretty easy to rationalize a system when ending that system would completely uproot your society and plunge nearly everyone into poverty.

Be careful of judging people on the basis of your own morality. It isn’t all that far fetched that future generations will look back upon us and judge us harshly. Yes, slavery was wrong, but it certainly wasn’t an American invention. Slavery has been the norm throughout most of human history. It still is the norm in some parts of the world.


81 posted on 05/05/2021 6:56:34 AM PDT by stremba
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To: TBP

Actually it’s really even more cynical than that. All taxes paid to the Federal government had to come from each state in proportion to that state’s population. Northern states wanted slaves to be counted fully for the purpose of taxation but not at all for apportionment of members of the House. Southern states obviously wanted the opposite. Hence the compromise- 3/5 of slave population counted for both purposes.


82 posted on 05/05/2021 7:01:55 AM PDT by stremba
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To: Olog-hai

Yes.

The 3/5 was to deprive the slave states of Congressional seats based on populations in those states that had no representation - the slaves. If they could have gotten away with it, the fraction should have been less than 3/5.

And yes in time, due in part to the 3/5 rule, anti-slave legislation continued to advance in the U.S. Congress.

And yes, the difference in Congress was only IN PART to the 3/5 rule. The population difference alone was significant:

“According to the census of 1860 the population of the United States numbered 31,443,321 persons. Approximately 23,000,000 of them were in the twenty-two northern states and 9,000,000 in the eleven states that later seceded. Of the latter total, 3,500,000 were slaves.”


83 posted on 05/05/2021 7:02:58 AM PDT by Wuli ("")
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To: DiogenesLamp; Meatspace
Also bear in mind that in 1787, the vast majority of states were slave states.

In 1787, we had one free State, Massachusetts.

Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island had all passed laws eliminating it gradually (mostly preventing new slaves, but grandfathering in existing ones), and they didn't fully get rid of slavery until the 1840s-50s. Vermont banned slavery in her Constitution in 1777, but wasn't a State until 1791.
84 posted on 05/05/2021 8:15:20 AM PDT by Svartalfiar
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To: stremba

The Bible does not sanction chattel slavery, and makes a big point about the freeing of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery.


85 posted on 05/05/2021 8:22:08 AM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: Olog-hai

Not saying it does, but Southerners certainly used various Biblical passages to argue in favor of slavery.


86 posted on 05/05/2021 9:30:12 AM PDT by stremba
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To: stremba

Fair enough.


87 posted on 05/05/2021 10:16:56 AM PDT by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: stremba

Just like how Satan twisted Scripture to try to tempt Jesus to go so far as to worship him.


88 posted on 05/05/2021 10:31:16 AM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: DiogenesLamp
"The Southern states weren't all that eager to break from England in the first place."

I saw this when you initially posted it a month ago, but I keep thinking about it.

I've been reluctant myself to bring it up on numerous occasions over the years because I don't believe most people know this.

On the surface, this piece of information seems quite innocuous. "so they didn't want to break with England, so what? That's meaningless!" However this is quite harmful to the 1619 project ideology because of all that it portends.

89 posted on 06/04/2021 12:36:43 PM PDT by ProgressingAmerica (Public meetings are superior to newspapers)
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To: ProgressingAmerica
However this is quite harmful to the 1619 project ideology because of all that it portends.

I'm not grasping how it harms the 1619 project. A lot of people argue that the colonies would have given up slavery a lot sooner if the Crown had allowed them to do it, but that's about the only angle I can see for this harming the 1619 project, and even that isn't a clear example of harm to the 1619 project.

Apart from that, the 1619 project simply does not care what is true or false. They will just regurgitate the same spew that they wish people to believe, and it doesn't matter if it's actually true or not.

90 posted on 06/04/2021 2:53:43 PM PDT by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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