File:Justin Lafferty (web search results 5 May 2021).jpg

Justin Lafferty (web search results 5 May 2021)

Justin Lafferty, Tennessee Lawmaker, Draws Fire for Three-Fifths Compromise

GOP lawmaker applauded after praising three-fifths compromise

Tennessee lawmaker falsely suggests infamous 3/5ths compromise was to help end slavery

In remarks on the Tennessee House floor, state Rep. Justin Lafferty claimed that "the three-fifths compromise was a direct effort to ensure that Southern states never got the population necessary to continue the practice of slavery everywhere else in the country."

"By limiting the number of population in the count, they specifically limited the number of representatives that would be available in the slaveholding states and they did it for the purpose of ending slavery," he argued.

He also suggested that by the Northern states allying with the Southern states, in order to "defeat the British," America "ended up biting a bitter, bitter pill that haunts us today. And we did it to lay the foundation for all this that we enjoy in this country," seemingly referring to slavery.