The Reach of the Three-Fifths Clause
(from Gary Wills, ''Negro President": Jefferson and the Slave Power)

1. The effect of the clause was that slave states always had more than one-third more seats in Congress than their free population warranted; hence-- 1793—47 instead of 33 1812—76 instead of 59 1833—98 instead 73

2. Between 1788 and the Compromise of 1850 slaveholders controlled: a. the presidency for 50 years b. the speaker’s chair in the House for 41 years c. the chairmanship of House Ways and Means Committee for 42 years

3. The only men to be reelected president—Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe—were all slaveholders

4. Eighteen of 31 Supreme Court justices were slaveholders

5. Southerners controlled the patronage in federal positions—e.g., 57% of the high civil service positions under Adams, 56% under Jefferson, 37% under Jackson

6. Many of Jefferson’s actions and concerns were specifically designed to maintain Southern numerical strength in the political system through the “slave power” (the power of south to control American politics through the 3/5 clause a. survey of the West b. Louisiana purchase c. fear of Burr’s detaching part of the Southwest from the Union d. University of Virginia—a place where southerners could send their best and brightest, rather than to Yale or Harvard where they might hear too much criticism of southern slavery

7. Slavery and the Presidency a. Of the 15 pre-war presidents, 10 were slaveholders b. Of the first 16 presidential terms (through the Taylor-Fillmore term), the presidency was in the hands of non-slaveholders on only three occasions (Adams, Quincy Adams, and Fillmore) Slaveholders in bold: 1. George Washington, 1789-1797 2. John Adams, 1797-1801 3.