Why is it that the author from Politico, who sports a Master’s from Columbia, seems to be willfully ignorant of the real reason the Three-Fifths Clause existed? To deny further power to the slave-owning states.
It’s very simple.
Southern states wanted only free people counted for purposes of taxation, but wanted slaves included for purposes of representation.
Northern states obviously wanted the reverse. They compromised on 3/5 for both.