Glenn Beck Defends Michelle Bachmann's Claim Founding Fathers Were Against Slavery" By Distorting Three-Fifths Clause

Glenn Beck distorting claim the Founding Fathers were against slavery despite the "three-fifths" clause.

Why am I not surprised that Glenn Beck is trying to distort the three-fifths clause in the Constitution in regards to blacks in this country? He's trying to distort the true intention of the "three-fifths" clause to fit his views. He'll defend the "poor man's Sarah Palin" because he taught her this garbage. I never thought I would say this, but of the two women, Sarah Palin is the one with some brains. Listen to this fool try to distort the facts:



Here's some information about the three-fifths clause:

The three-fifths compromise was an agreement between Southern and Northern states reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787, during which the basic framework of the United States was established. Under this compromise, slaves were counted as three-fifths of a human being for the purpose of taxation and representation in Congress. As a result, slave-owners and the Southern states got a deal deal of political clout.

As all compromises do, the three-fifths compromise started as a dispute. Most of the Northern states did not want to count slaves at all, arguing that they should be treated as property, since they didn't have votes or any other power. The Southern states, however, wanted to count slaves as people so that they would get more representation in Congress, solidifying their political power. The North resisted this, rightly fearing that counting slaves as people would increase the Congressional seats apportioned to the South, thereby making the South extremely formidable.

In the end, two representatives, James Wilson and Roger Sherman, came up with the three-fifths compromise, which was designed to meet the demands of both sides. Recognizing the desire of the South and wanting to reach out to the Southern states to encourage them to ratify, the three-fifths compromise allowed the government to count slaves as partial people, while allaying the fears of the North about Southern power.

Of course, many people in the Northern states kept slaves as well, but the vast majority of slaves in America at the time were working on Southern plantations as agricultural laborers. Under the three-fifths compromise, plantation owners in the South gained considerable political power, which they used to promote their own political agenda and desires.