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How many times over the years have we heard that America was founded on racism and proof of that is the 3/5th of a man clause in Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution. I guess I never questioned the truth behind the claims that article reducing blacks to 3/5th of a person for representation was racism. Wrong. It was the abolitionists who demanded that the 3/5th clause be part of the Constitution to ensure that the South would actually agree to the Constitution.
As the video shows, if 5/5th of the slave population, almost all of whom were in the South, was approved for representation in government, by the time of the Civil War, the Southern (Democratic) Slave States would have controlled the Federal government and slavery might still be in existence.
The PragerU video linked below is educational. Funny how the Southern Democrats, who were, and are, adamantly pro-slavery agreed to join the union when the 3/5ths motion was approved.