I knew someone who tried to argue that the south wanted slaves to count as a whole person! Yea, Josh, they wanted to up their population numbers so they could control more of the government. They didn't want to actually give them any fucking rights, you idiot.
It truly saddens me, a first generation immigrant, how many Americans I've surprised with the 3/5th clause. I genuinely love this country, I just wish it lived up to the ideals that so many of it's citizens have convinced themselves it's always had.
People often measure what they see immediately around them (and yes that means time wise as well) as always having been, or norm. This is why they can critique, with 0 understanding, things 200 years prior. This doesn't mean we can't learn from the past, we very much should, but we should put it all into context.
It does. The country literally went to war with itself to end slavery. Great people gave it all and paid the ultimate sacrifice fighting for the individual rights of others and against the evils of slavery. The good guys won, too. We should be so proud, yet people focus on the fact that America had slaves and have 0 respect and appreciation for the people who paid the price. Human nature can be very ugly. It was never white vs black, but good vs evil, and good won.
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u/DataIllusion Jul 11 '24
They didn’t see it as contradictory because they didn’t see slaves as people.