The above was called by George Washington, "the Quaker Amendment". It represented one of only two attempts in the constitution to limit slavery on a national level.
The "three fifths of all other persons" Article 1. Section 2., in reality limited the slave states to fewer represenatives in the national government than they otherwise would have had if all persons had been counted in full. This could be viewed as northern racism or an attempt to let the southerners know that full representation on a national level would only occur if slavery were abolished.
No where in the Constitution is word corporation mentioned. Yet as Mike has pointed out, corporation's have been given the same rights as "Persons" by our federal judicial system. The whole story of how our state legislatures and state attorney generals lost control of the corporate chatering process or have refused to challenge the corporations is an almost uknown topic.
Your email pal,
Tom L.
Michael Perelman wrote:
> Margaret called the constitution egalitarian. What? A black is a fraction of a
> man, and like women denied the vote.
>
> The founding fathers were interested in the preservation of property. They were
> worried that the electorate could get too uppity under the articles of
> confederation. They wanted more trade and more financial control.
>
> The document was prepared under fraudulent conditions (supposedly a minor
> alteration of some technical matters in the Articles of Confederation), debated
> under the greatest secrecy, and then ratified under undemocratic and probably
> fraudulent conditions.
>
> The Constitution offers a few protections, but most of them have been
> grotesquely distorted (e.g. freedom of speech for corporations). We should hold
> fast to these protections since we have so few, but reverence ....?
>
> --
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA 95929
>
> Tel. 530-898-5321
> E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu