[rabidralph]

So are you saying that black people did not descend from apes? That would make me less human than whites—maybe 3/5ths human.

[allmendream]

All people descended from apes and all are related to apes to the exact same degree.

As to the 3/5ths jibe, a person was not counted as 3/5ths because they were Black, only if they were a slave. A free person, regardless of race, was counted as 1 person for purposes of apportionment of political power. And a slave, regardless of race, was counted as 3/5ths.

And the tragedy is not that they counted as 3/5ths, but that they would be counted at all for apportionment of political power.

The Senator from a slave state DID NOT represent the interests of their slave constituents to the same degree that a Senator from a free state represented the interests of their free constituents.