More on the US Constitution
Thomas Allen
Below discussed are two philosophies of government, two concepts of the States, and the three-fifth clause of the Constitution below.
Two Philosophies of Government
In the United States, two philosophies of government are competing: the philosophy of Thomas Jefferson and the philosophy of Abraham Lincoln. Until 1860, Jefferson’s philosophy prevailed. Since 1865, Lincoln’s philosophy has dominated. Between 1861 and 1865, a war (Lincoln’s War) was fought to decide which of these two philosophies would govern the United States. Lincoln won and Jefferson lost. Today, the vast majority of people follow Lincoln’s philosophy.
Jefferson’s philosophy is based on the Aristotelian philosophy: Man is communal and naturally forms groups in which to live. The purpose of the government is to protect life, liberty, and property. Therefore, the government is the minimum necessary to protect life, liberty, and property.
Lincoln’s philosophy is based on the Hobbesian philosophy: Man is a solitary beast living by the “Law of the Jungle” (the survival of the fittest) instead of being communal. Therefore, man has to be forced into relationships with his fellow man. Further, only force can maintain these relationships. Consequently, the purpose of the government is to apply this force. The government is how civilization and society are maintained. To apply this force requires a powerful government.
Under Jefferson’s philosophy, the United States are a voluntary union of independent bodies politic (a voluntary union of independent States). As independent sovereigns, the States entered into a compact, the United States Constitution. Under the Constitution, the States retain all powers that they did not expressly delegate to the government for the United States (commonly called the federal government) or denied themselves in the Constitution.
Under Lincoln’s philosophy, the United States is (according to Lincoln’s philosophy and “are” according to Jefferson’s philosophy) a union where the people are submissive to an all-powerful government (the federal government). Also, the States are not independent sovereign bodies politic; they are merely equivalent to counties of the federal government. Moreover, the States have only those powers that the federal government condescends to grant or allow them. Further, the States are to do whatever the federal government orders them to do.
Jefferson’s philosophy of government is one of liberty. Lincoln’s philosophy of government is one of oppression.
Two Concepts of the States
In Essays on the Civil War and Reconstruction and Related Topics, 1898 (pages 320–328), William Dunning, Ph.D., explains two concepts of the States. They are the older concept, the Jeffersonian concept, and the newer concept, the Lincolnian concept. The Jeffersonian concept generally prevailed before 1861, and the Lincolnian concept has prevailed since 1861.
The Lincolnian concept of the States maintains that the States are not equal: Some States are more equal than others. The original States north of the Potomac River along with a few other States are superior to the other States. All the other States including the Southern States are inferior because the act of Congress that admitted them (or readmitted the Southern States) placed conditions on them that are forever binding. Thus, the act of admission is superior to the Constitution.
Adherents of the Lincolnian concept argue that nothing in the Constitution requires that States be equal. Thus, Congress can impose perpetually binding conditions on a State when admitting that State into the Union. Further, courts are bound by these conditions and cannot overturn them on the grounds that all States are equal. The only equality to which all States are entitled is equal representation in the Senate, a proportional number of members in the House of Representatives, and a republican form of government. “But beyond such clearly defined rights, Congress may determine as it pleases the degree of restriction which it deems best for any particular community” (pp. 325-326).
The Jeffersonian concept maintains that all States are equal. The tenth amendment asserts this equality. Even if Congress were to admit with conditions a territory as a State, those conditions become irrelevant once the territory becomes a State.
Adherents of the Jeffersonian concept contend that the Constitution overrides the act of admission. “If the power in question is not delegated to the United States by the constitution nor prohibited by it to the states, it rightfully belongs to the state, anything in the act of Congress to the contrary notwithstanding” (p. 327).
Moreover, proponents of the Jefferson concept maintain that Article IV, Section 3 of the Constitution only authorizes Congress to admit new States; it does not authorize Congress to create new States. “The creation of the state is antecedent to the admission, and springs from the will of the people inhabiting the territory” (p. 327).
Of the two concepts, the Jeffersonian concept is far more compatible with liberty than the Lincolnian concept. Ultimately, the Lincolnian concept leads to tyranny and despotism. Regrettably, many States have been admitted (or readmitted for the Southern States) following the Lincolnian concept. Thus, the Union consists of two types of States: the superior States and the inferior States. While the inferior States entered (or reentered for the Southern States) with perpetually binding conditions imposed on them, the superior States entered the Union without conditions.
Three-fifth Clause
Section 2, Article 1 of the Constitution for the United States reads:
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.
Thus, slaves are only counted as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of direct taxation and representation.
Many people seem to believe that the slaveholding Southern States argued that Black slaves should not be counted because they were inferior subhumans. On the other hand, the Northern States, especially the New England States (home of the Yankee at that time), argued that Blacks should be counted as whole persons because they are the White man’s equal. On the contrary, the Southern States wanted to count Black slaves as whole persons. The Northern States did not want to count them as persons. The South and North compromised by counting slaves as three-fifths of a person.
This disagreement had nothing to do with the inferiority of Blacks or the superiority of Whites; after all, free Blacks were counted as whole persons. Instead, how to count Black slaves concerned political power. If Black slaves were counted as whole persons, the South would have more political power. If Black slaves were counted as nonpersons, the North would have more political power. Even the compromise gave the North more political power.
Copyright © 2021 by Thomas Coley Allen.
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