During the Revolutionary War and the inception of our country,

The North and The South struggled to find unity while freeing itself from the oppressive British Empire.

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 reached an impasse due to the difference in population density.

The South had far more people if you counted the enslaved, creating an imbalance for congressional representation.

The North wanted zero slaves counted. The South wanted every slave counted.

THE SOLUTION? THE THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE

• Every slave (Black & Indigenous People) would be counted as 3/5ths of a human

• The North would not prevent bounty hunters & plantation owners from retrieving slaves who escaped

WHEN THE CIVIL WAR ERUPTED IN THE 1800s,

The Confederate States of the South seceded the Union and the North wanted to remain the “United States”

• The North would have lost if it weren’t for the former slaves who joined their forces

• Ending slavery was the price for Black soldiers. “Fight for our Freedom and we will Fight for You.”

• Slavery was technically ended, and equal protection was granted, but many still were not free.

• Lynchings were still rampant with “picnics” where onlookers would feast on the flesh of the dead.

• Oh, and those wooden teeth? The teeth of slaves.

RATIFICATION UNDER RECONSTRUCTION

• The Reconstruction Era of the mid 1800s intended radical change

• The 13th amendment freed the slaves (except through the prison system)

• The 14th amendment ratified the 3/5th’s compromise, giving full personhood to each formerly enslaved person

• The 14th amendment also guarantees birthright citizenship and due process under the law

FOR THE LAST 150 YEARS, THE PROMISE OF PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW HAS NOT BEEN UPHELD