The Legacy of the Three-Fifths Compromise
The Three-Fifths Compromise was proposed at the Congress of the Confederation in 1783 and added to the US Constitution four years later. Its legacy endures through prisons and has a lasting impact on the US today.
Ibram X. Kendi
Partner • #GirlDad • Scholar @BU_Tweets • Dir @AntiracismCtr • @NationalBook Award Winner • #1 NYT Bestselling Author • MacArthur Fellow • Surviving Cancer 🐍
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#OTD in 1783, it was proposed at the Congress of the Confederation that enslaved Black people should count as 60% of a White person. Called the Three-fifths Compromise, the clause was added to the US Constitution four years later. Today its legacy endures through prisons. A 🧵 1/ pic.twitter.com/REOkFAcOPC
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) April 19, 2023 -
At the Confederation Congress, one suggestion for determining state tax rates was based on the state’s population. The more people a state had, the more tax it would owe. This raised the question: Are enslaved people, who are legally considered property, inhabitants? 2/ pic.twitter.com/K56P5Ertm8
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) April 19, 2023 -
Many delegates, especially those from southern states with larger enslaved populations, did not want enslaved people to count as inhabitants. During the debates, Maryland's Samuel Chase said, “Negroes in fact should not be considered members of the state more than cattle.” 3/ pic.twitter.com/IM0FNTDSxZ
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) April 19, 2023 -
On April 18th, 1783, James Madison suggested a three-fifths ratio, meaning that five enslaved people count as three. It was a compromise between two ratios the North and South put forth in slight favor of the South. The Amendment was approved but failed to be ratified. 4/ pic.twitter.com/sIDujweTJK
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) April 19, 2023 -
The Articles of Confederation was notoriously weak, and in 1787, the Founding Fathers decided to create a new governing document: The US Constitution. The same argument came up during the Constitutional Convention, but this time over political representation. 5/ pic.twitter.com/v54UNykpa2
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) April 19, 2023 -
Founding Fathers needed to determine how many electoral votes and House seats each state would get. If enslaved people were fully counted, enslavers would get more power. Enslavers realized the benefit of counting the enslaved as people, despite treating them as "cattle." 6/ pic.twitter.com/pNSSnMQkRM
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) April 19, 2023 -
James Wilson and Charles Pinckney reintroduced the three-fifths ratio in June 1787. It was approved and added into the Constitution. In March 1789, the Constitution came into effect with the racist idea that enslaved Black people were less than human. 7/ pic.twitter.com/iKF6ArndXp
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) April 19, 2023 -
The 3/5ths clause was not repealed until the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868. White supremacists had taken advantage of the repeal by the century's end. Despite being fully counted, racist violence and voter suppression almost entirely disenfranchised Black southerners. 8/ pic.twitter.com/AwpInVr2Zh
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) April 19, 2023 -
Inflating White power through counting disempowered bodies of color still happens. Incarcerated populations--which are disproportionately Black and Brown--are counted where they're held, in prisons located in predominantly White towns. 9/ pic.twitter.com/qeuxfBhsN8
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) April 19, 2023 -
These White towns have greater political representation due to sizeable populations of Black and Brown inmates who are legally enslaved by the state and barred from voting. A legacy of the three-fifths clause, shackling people still augments White political power in the US. 10/10 pic.twitter.com/XuQtdxDqqK
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) April 19, 2023