@JayHawkFanToo @justanotherfan In my role as spectator, I believe you both have made excellent points, but both of you generalize about the motives of the Founders and of the people in each region. Not everything can be viewed through lenses focusing on results as if they had single causes or as if the actors had united beliefs one way or the other.
Neither of you addressed what to me is the most important fact in all this: If the 3/5 clause were solely due to racism, then free blacks would not have counted more than slaves in either the North or South. This suggests that the Convention was more concerned about the number of slaves in the South than about their race.
On the other hand, the fact is that over time, the Clause was used by many bigots to denigrate blacks. I have personally heard people cite it as “proof” that blacks are not equal to whites. That those people are idiots is unimportant, because they press their views just as much as anybody. Like the Confederate battle flag, 3/5 is an historical relic which, although perhaps not accurately, nevertheless symbolizes one race’s lengthy holding of another race in bondage.
Technicalities are important in law and science. In culture clashes, symbols are much more important, and awareness of millions of persons’ sensitivities does not require corrupting one’s soul. Truth contains both fact and belief.
