In reading Amar today, I became especially interested in the emphasis he places on the 3/5 Compromise in not only allowing for the ratification of the Constitution but also in greatly affecting the power balance in the government following this time. The power of Southern states extended to the control of the Supreme Court at the time and how these respective cases were decided. Since I'm also a Supreme Court case junkie, I reread the Dred Scott v Sandford case today and found a few sections that are interesting to see how the Constitution was and is interepreted in promoting a certain agenda. I think it is important to understand how various Court's interpret the same sections of the Constitution in differing and often conflicting ways. It's also important to note the number of cases overturned in the years followed, as it shows the fluidity of the Constitution in application, though the Constitution is usually viewed as a extremely stable document.
"There are two clauses in the Constitution which point directly and specifically to the negro race as a separate class of persons, and show clearly that they were not regarded as a portion of the people or citizens of the Government then formed."
"Here the line of distinction is drawn in express words. Persons of color, in the judgment of Congress, were not included in the wordcitizens, and they are described as another and different class of persons, and authorized to be employed, if born in the United States...."
The full text can be found at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2933t.html
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