Indiana lieutenant governor calls Three-Fifths Compromise ‘a great move’

Indiana’s lieutenant governor is facing backlash from some of the state’s religious and civil rights leaders after he called the Three-Fifths Compromise, which counted each Black enslaved person as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of taxation and representation, “a great move” that led to the abolishment of slavery.

Democrats in the Indiana Senate had on Thursday argued against a bill that curbed diversity, equity and inclusion programs by comparing it to the Three-Fifths Compromise. The debate prompted Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith (R) to take to X to rebuke the Democrats for thinking the agreement made at the 1787 Constitutional Convention “was some sort of terrible thing in our past.”

“It was not. It actually was the exact opposite — that helped to root out slavery,” Beckwith said in a video arguing that the compromise limited the number of pro-slave representatives in Congress because it didn’t allow Southern states to count enslaved people as whole people. “Don’t buy into the DEI, radical revisionist history.”

The comments drew condemnations from the Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis, the Indiana Chapter of the National Action Network and the Alliance of Baptists. In a joint statement Friday, the groups said Beckwith’s take on the compromise was itself “historical revisionism,” and asked Indiana Gov. Mike Braun (R) to publicly denounce Beckwith’s comments.

“Let us be clear: the Three-Fifths Compromise was never about compromise; it was about control,” the groups said. “It was about counting enslaved African bodies for political power while denying them humanity, freedom, and rights. To call this a ‘great move’ is not only historically inaccurate but morally repugnant.”

The groups called on Braun to mandate that Beckwith issue a “full and formal retraction.” Braun and Beckwith did not respond to requests for comment Saturday.

Historians have generally agreed that the 1787 compromise benefited the Southern states and the institution of slavery rather than helping to eliminate it. Though the South failed to make it so enslaved people would count for more than three-fifths of a person — without legal rights like voting — the agreement still amplified the political power of slave states relative to the representation they’d have were enslaved people not counted at all.

It’s not the first time the agreement has been misconstrued by politicians, as debates have raged in state legislatures over systemic racism and how it should be taught in schools.

Republican lawmakers in Tennessee, Colorado and Oregon made headlines in recent years for arguing that the Three-Fifths Compromise was an antislavery measure. In 2021, Tennessee state Rep. Justin Lafferty claimed the deal was struck “for the purpose of ending slavery. Well before Abraham Lincoln. Well before Civil War.”

Conservative political commentator and radio host Glenn Beck made a similar argument in 2010, and during President Donald Trump’s first administration, the White House released “The 1776 Report,” which credited the compromise with “set[ting] the stage for abolition.”

Historians largely dismissed the “The 1776 Report” as a politicized project riddled with errors. Historian Staughton Lynd wrote in the 1960s that the compromise “sanctioned slavery more decidedly than any previous action at a national level” because, even though the agreement did not codify slavery into law, it acknowledged a difference between free people and “other Persons.”

The compromise remained in effect until the passage of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, known as the “Reconstruction Amendments,” following the Civil War.

Beckwith’s video on X came after the Indiana Senate passed the controversial anti-DEI measure, Senate Bill 289. The bill, which has been sent to Braun’s desk for his signature, bars publicly funded institutions, like public school districts and universities, from taking actions for or against an individual based on characteristics like race or religion.

Senate Democrats had blasted the measure as “a step backward” for Indiana’s diverse communities who face discrimination in the state, the Indy Star previously reported. During contentious debates, lawmakers said S.B. 289 ignores the country’s legacy of racism and discrimination, citing the Three-Fifths Compromise as one example.

But Beckwith pushed back against the assertion Thursday, moments after state senators voted 34-16 to approve the measure.

“You had the Senate Democrats who are getting up, talking about the Three-Fifths Compromise, like it was some sort of terrible thing in our past. It was not,” Beckwith said.

The joint statement from Indiana religious and civil rights groups called Beckwith’s comments “beneath the dignity of Indiana’s second-highest elected office.”

“The Lt. Governor’s comments dishonor the memory of those who were enslaved, disrespect the struggle of generations who fought for civil rights, and display a dangerous disregard for the continuing racial disparities that still plague our state and nation,” the statement read.