M'arthur Democrat. (McArthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1853-1865, 1856-08-21
From the Chicago Times.
Every SIaVe-HOIder has ave

One oil Inc most common OF all fraudulent
statements made by the orators Of the oppo-
sition is, that owing to the peculiar nature
OF the institution OF slavery every slave. hold
er has five votes, while Northern man has
but one. Strnage as il may appear,we met a
man the other day who was willing to wager
that such was the fact. We need not add,
that he was eloquent upon the outrageous
advantage slaveowners have over free white
men at the North. This Misrepresentation
has been exposed often; but as it is often
thrown in the face of the Democracy by these
freedom shriekers," we will explain the
truth Of the matter again. @f
The subject is regulated by the Constitu-
tlon, which, in Article /, Sec. 2, has the fol.
lowing;
"Represe natives and direct taxes shall be
apportioned among the several States which
may be included in the Union, according to
their respective numbers, which shall be deter.
mined by adding to the whole number Of free
persons, including those bound to service
for number ofyears, and excluding Indians
not taxed, three .tilths Of all other PERSONS"
A few wordswill explain the practical op-
Grafton Of this provision. In the State OF
Illinois, all persons, men women and chill
dren, including all negroes, are included in
that population which is made the basis Of
representation in Congress- Surprising the
ratio of the Representatives WIS one member
of,Congress for each 100000 inhabitants,
and that Illinois had a population Of one
million whites and 800 900 negroes,
yet, as the negroes Of Illinois are free, Him
ois would be entitled to thirteen members
Of Congress. But change the scene TO Ken.
lucky. But suppose that Kentucky has pop.
laution Of the same number, and divided in the
same proportion between whites and blacks
yet, because her negroes are slaves, she is not
entitled 10 thirteen Representatives. She
would be entitled to ten, for the million OF
whites; but her 800 900 negroes only count
10000, as federal population, and are less
than sufficient to entitle her two Representa-.
tives. Three hundred thousand negroes in a
free State, count, in the apportionment OF
Representatives, as so many white PERSONS
but the SAME num5er of negroes in a slave
State, are only counted, for like purpose
as one hunded and eighty thousand persons
The result is, that the slave States loose, un.
der this provision of the Constitution, two.
fiIths of their negro population, in the ap-
portionment Of Representatives. The ne.
gro populations the North but small, wher
compared with that Of the South. But, il
the proportion tina; the negro population o
NE south is greater than at the North, SO il
the loss of the South, in the matter of repre-
sentation. Esti mating the slave population
of the Southen States at the figures furnish.
| ed by the census Of 1850, we find it stated to
bed, ,l69,32l. This population is, numerical.
! ly, nearly equal 20 that of tie six New Eng.
land States, and the States of Michigan and
California added. The aggregate population
OF these eight States was, in 1859, 3,20S, 1867.
Their aggregate representation in the house OF
Representatives, is thirty-fe members.
While every man in these eight States,
black and white is counted in the apportion-
| OF Representatives, the same number of per-
sons at the South suffer reduction o { two.
filths. The advantage of this provision in
the Constitution is wholly on the side of the
North. Where the advantage is, can be dis.
tinctly seen by enquiring what the effect of
its repeal would be. Abolish the distinc.
tion, and the North retains its present con-
dition;but the federal population OF the South
would be increased in the proportion of
fiiths of the Slave population.
The voters in the State of Illinois are, ex.
clusively, the white male citizens above the
age of twenty-one years. These men vote
Tor themselves, for the women, children and
all the negroes in the State. The voters in
South Carolina are the white male citizens
above the age of 81 years, and they vote Just
as the voters Of Illinois do, for all the men,
women, children and negroes in the State
The only difference between this State and S.
Carolina is, that 93,7OU negroes will give US
a Representative in Congress, while at the
South it requires over one hundred and fifty
thousand persons of that character to entitle
State to Representative in Congress
When an abo!itionist tells you that slave
owners vote three votes for every five negroes
IN their States, answer him that the only diff
ference between the free States and the Slave,
is, that at the South, five negroes count as
bu; three persons, while here they count as
five.