If all slaves had been counted the same as others, the Democrat slaveholding south would have been predominant in the Congress from the beginning, Actually, there would have been no union because the Northern states would not have permitted themselves to be dominated by the Southern states. Few know this because history is not taught in school any more.
Blacks were also being taught that, if they voted to end slavery that they would face economic oblivion.
Blacks themselves would have voted for slavery.
Historians largely agree the compromise gave slaveholding states inordinate power over choosing a president — and decisions of the Continental Congress. That clout eventually faded when Northern state populations began to rapidly rise.The AP acknowledges the truth, but gives a false reason.
I know. I roll my eyes at people on this one. Complete, unashamed, and total ignorance.
The one that really makes me slap my forehead are the ones who proclaim it is proof of racism because it shows they thought blacks were only 3/5th’s as worthwhile as a white person.
True...forgotten truth.
In 1787, the vast majority of states were slave states including most of the Northern states. There was a debate in the constitutional convention on the topic of slavery, which I have read. The representatives of the Northern states realized that without tolerating slavery, there would be no Union, and they would all be retaken by the British.
The Southern states weren't all that eager to break from England in the first place, and were it not for the work of the Swamp fox, they probably would have remained loyal to the Crown.
If the two sides had split in 1787 and somehow avoided being retaken by the British, it would have likely avoided the horrors and destruction of the Civil War.