Have you ever sat down and thot thru the dynamics of counting slaves for representation?

If slaves were counted as 1/1, either slavery would have existed long past 1860s or the South would have surely seceded. To whit, Douglas rather than Lincoln would have won the presidency.

Check it out and do the math:
Congressional Apportionment–Historical Perspective

1st US Census (1790)

If anything, if the Founding Fathers couldn’t persuade slavers to freely afford the slaves the enumerated rights, then they ensured that slavery would eventually crumble with the 3/5th rule.

Put another way, would you rather that South Carolina, where slaves made up almost half the population have 6 US Representatives or 8 Reps, vs Massachusetts’ 12 Reps, with no slaves? That’s also a big part of the reason for efforts to prevent new states from becoming slave-states in order to prevent them from stacking their clout.

And don’t forget that little matter of the Electoral College.

Thus, I would argue that the act of counting slaves as 3/5ths actually made them whole in the long run.

A little more critical thinking and less yammering goes a long way.

Speaking for myself, I do not feel “constrained” to respond to your posts (though it is often amusing to do so), so no need to worry about whether I have something better to do.

I will let Tate, Redbeard, and Helio speak for themselves, though it would be my guess that they did not need to be informed about their exercise of “choice” in their blogosphere responses.

Naturally, I could be wrong and will examine any compellingly substantive posts to the contrary. Emotive responses need not apply.

I feel your pain!!!

spank: to strike especially on the buttocks with the open hand (m-w.com)

I can understand if you sense the pain, but unless you and Redbeard are conjoined twins, I do not see how you could actually feel it. Of, course, I do not mean to offend you if you and Redbeard are actually conjoined twins. If that is the case, maybe jan can explain it.

Actually, it is the tire and not the wheel that contacts the surface. Also, if you are making forward motion, you would have to have two tires in the sand. It is possible to have one tire in the sand for a moment, but……………sorry, my cat needs scratching.

1 a: to utter repeated cries of distress or sorrow b : WHIMPER
2: to utter persistent complaints : WHINE
: to talk persistently or volubly and often loudly.

An accurate description in my opinion…