You’ve no doubt heard there is a “three-fifths clause in the Constitution of the United States referring to enslaved Black people. The uninformed take that literally, believing the Constitution says that Black persons are worth three-fifths of a white person. Unfortunately, even that would be too kind of a representation. The three-fifths clause was a means to calculate the number of white Congressmen allocated to each state. It gave more power to states with many enslaved people to ensure they had enough votes in the House of Representatives to maintain the practice of slavery. The clause was a concession to Southern states to alleviate the fear the federal government would outlaw enslavement.
“Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons.”
The truth is that the enslaved didn’t have even three-fifths of the rights of a white man. They had no rights whatsoever, perhaps expressed best by Supreme Court Chief Justice who asserted in the Dred Scott decision that the enslaved had “no rights which the white man was bound to respect.” The fact the Founding Fathers put this clause into the Constitution says a lot, but not as much as what religious leaders in Britain and the United States did to control the enslaved.
“Parts of the Holy Bible, Selected For the Use of the Negro Slaves”
In 1807, a few years after Haitians gained their independence through revolt, some British clergy came up with a slimmed-down version of the Bible, designed to convince the enslaved that God didn’t want them to revolt. It was sent initially to the West Indies and the British Colonies in America. You may have thought that men of God would be uniformly against enslavement. But it was good Christian men who gained the most from enslavement and did the most to ensure the practice remained intact.
Over half of the Old Testament and a significant portion of the New Testament, including the whole book of Revelation, were removed from the slave Bible. Gone was any reference to Moses demanding of Pharaoh, “Let my people go!” Left in was Joseph becoming an enslaved person, which in the slave Bible was a good thing for Joseph. Every reference to freedom was omitted, while submission was how one would receive blessings from God.
Though most enslaved people were prohibited from learning to read, with the printed word having little value, the two main goals were propaganda and obedience. The Colonies were interested in showing the rest of the world they were Christians bringing the heathen enslaved people out of the darkness. They also taught the enslaved about a great God who demanded they obey Him and their white masters.
The church was a vessel in America to promote the proper behavior of the enslaved, praise hard work and reverence for their human master. Black people, including many of the enslaved, were allowed to attend church services, provided they were controlled by white clergy. Enslaved and free Blacks were encouraged to hear selected sermons and passages from a slimmed-down Bible.
I’m now thinking about the role of Christian missionaries across the world. Was their mission not only to spread their faith but destroy the existing faith of the natives, ultimately to weaken and enslave them?
I will be visiting Fisk University next month, hoping to see one of the few remaining copies of the “slave bible.” I attended Fisk and was unaware of its existence while a student. I wrote elsewhere about not knowing of the murals by Aaron Douglas while at Fisk. I’ll check to see what else I may have missed. It’s never too late to learn!
Absolutely incredible. Horrifyingly so. ❤️
Excellent article. Horrifying, but excellent.