Right - only politically expedient black people were 2/5ths human is exactly the nuance to bring up in discussions about whether the framers have any credibility 250 years later.

You have probably surmised by now that I have less patience with originalists than I do with libertarians for the exact same reasons: all arguments based on originalism are disingenuous at best and deceptive at worst. Simply making one of these arguments means you are humoring the viewpoint of people uninterested in empathy or betterment and are not British purely by stint of opportunism.

There's a 250-year history of forgiving the trespasses of the South because at least they didn't serve as another front for British domination but fuckin' hell we fought the Civil War because they obviously wanted to be and the South, and every white mutherfucker they elect, holds dear to their bosom the conviction that they're better than everybody else therefore their rights count more than everybody else and every time one of these "republic not democracy" discussions comes up it's all about a sore loser saying "I have a get-out-of-jail-free card because your ancestors needed mine AND YOU STILL OWE ME."

And fuck them. And fuck their arguments. And don't pretend that their basis in fact gives them any grounding in logic or morality.