The War of North Rebellion: Re: A different spin

» hawglips - Re: A different spin

In response to message posted by FortBrooke1824:

"However if a slave owner had 100 slaves then the way I understand it he had 60 votes and 61 includeing himself. And if he had 300 slaves then he had 181 total votes, against that one say up in Illinois."

Dennis, is this correct?

The way I understand it, the Constitution merely used the 3/5 rule to award seats in Congress according to population. The benefit was extended to districts generally, and not to any voter over another.

As the (1/10) slave owner within a congressional district benefitted by the 3/5 rule, so did all of the remaining (9/10) voters in that district. The district benefitted as a whole by the number of slaves residing there, with no extra voting power given to the slave owner in particular.

Hal

-- posted by hawglips