i don't remember so i'm not sure this is a thing but how were you taught about the 3/5ths Compromise? that clause of the US constitution that says slaves will be counted as 3/5ths of a person? was it like, oh that's bad because it is dehumanizing to be considered less than a full person?
like that isn't the problem there. these people were already enslaved. everything about how society and the economy and whatever was structured was premised on them not being human. The Problem is for what propose they were being counted as 3/5ths of a person. it was for apportioning representatives and taxes. the south had millions of people enslaved. 3/5ths of those millions were considered for how many representatives the states had in congress. the more slaves, the more political power. and this had repercussions that echo down through to today. and this is reflected today in prison populations being counted for political representation but incarcerated people being disenfranchised. and in gerrymandering and in gutting the voting rights act. in the continued denial of political power to black people.
literally like everything this country does is a badge of slavery. everything is reproducing slavery while trying to forget it.
oh and the other side of the compromises: the taxes. the south could continue to benefit from slavery and accumulated political power as long as it meant the north and the federal govt could accumulate wealth and capital in tandem.
maybe everyone knows this shit already but like the good guys were always benefitting from slavery from the absolute earliest days of this country's founding. they just didn't want the south to keep all the wealth generated from it. everything that happens today is designed to reproduce this.
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