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The Thomas Jefferson Discussion Group
of Orlando, Florida
Meeting No. 33 - January 21, 2004
Holiday House Restaurant, Orlando, Florida
THIS MONTH'S TOPIC:
THE ROLE OF THE SOUTH IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
OF 1800 AND 2004
This is a presidential election year and there has been much discussion about the role the South will play in determining the winner. The number of electoral votes each state gets is a function of its population. Currently, a candidate must get a majority of electoral votes to win (269 of the 537 available).
In 1800, a state's population was determined by considering each slave in the state as 3/5ths of a person. Of course, the slave could not vote, only count fractionally toward the influence their state would have in determining federal policy. It is one of the greatest of historical ironies that this rule prolonged the Negro's incarceration in the slave prison, protecting the master's hold on the slave whip who, of course, had anything but the black person's interest in mind in terms of representation.
The 3/5ths compromise was the only way the South would agree to the federal constitution 12 years earlier. The historian Gary Wills has written a book entitled: Negro President. Mr. Wills suggests that the 3/5ths compromise is the only reason Jefferson was elected. In fact, the Southıs dominance in our federal government up to the Civil War is primarily due to the 3/5ths rule.
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