Three‑Fifths Riposte: Toby Reads the Constitution and Wins Willis
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Mandy and Toby present statistics on census inaccuracies and cost savings of statistical sampling, pushing for its adoption.
Gladman and Skinner invoke the Constitution to oppose sampling, prompting Toby to demand a direct reading of Article I, Section 2.
Toby forces Mandy to read Article I, Section 2, exposing the historical 'three-fifths' clause to challenge the congressmen's constitutional argument.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Controlled, urgent — a calm, authoritative exterior masking the urgency of converting technical facts into moral pressure.
Leads the rhetorical maneuver: insists the Article be read, corrects the omission, weaponizes the three‑fifths language as moral indictment, and then addresses Willis directly to convert argument into conscience.
- • Persuade Congressman Willis to withdraw his amendment.
- • Reframe the debate from technical/constitutional hair-splitting to moral clarity.
- • Legal language can be used as moral leverage.
- • Counting people as people is a moral imperative that should override partisan argument.
Torn but moved — vulnerable, chastened by historical context and swayed by personal appeal to fairness and memory of his wife.
Grieving, humble Congressman who initially asserts ownership of his choice; listens as Toby reframes the constitutional language, acknowledges the three‑fifths implication, and ultimately announces he will drop the amendment.
- • Make a decision he can morally live with.
- • Honor the memory/standards that guided him in private life.
- • Fairness should be the starting point for democratic decisions.
- • He is not as politically or intellectually able as his late wife, and others' moral clarity matters to him.
Frustrated and put on the defensive once the moral argument supplants their technical position; they try to reassert committee authority but fail to regain control.
Represented by Gladman and Skinner, this delegation presses constitutional and procedural objections, asserts committee and leadership pressure, and attempts to hold the high ground until Toby's pivot robs them of moral cover.
- • Preserve party line and committee recommendations.
- • Prevent adoption of sampling on constitutional grounds.
- • Constitutional language provides a decisive, non‑partisan barrier to sampling.
- • Leadership and committee recommendations should drive individual votes.
Practical and brisk, slightly exasperated by procedural delays but ready to support the rhetorical tactic when called upon.
Reads the constitutional passage when asked, provides the factual foundation for Toby's rhetorical move, and supplies the statistical framing earlier in the exchange to establish stakes.
- • Support the administration's persuasive effort to keep the amendment from passing.
- • Use concise facts and readings to close the argument quickly and secure the win.
- • Facts and quick optics win arguments.
- • Moral framing can be decisive when paired with concrete data.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Appropriations Bill (represented concretely by a sample line in canonical materials) functions as the legislative stake — the threatened casualty if the amendment were attached. It is invoked repeatedly to dramatize urgency and leverage political pressure.
The one‑page Census Amendment (statistical sampling restriction) is the disputed instrument at the heart of the scene; it is the policy object Toby and Mandy seek to defeat and the item Willis ultimately withdraws, thereby preserving the Appropriations bill intact.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Roosevelt Room is the formal yet intimate setting where staff and members perform high‑stakes persuasion. Its table, daylight and conference tone compress partisan theater into a private moral confrontation where a national constitutional text is read aloud and a personal decision is made.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Toby's forceful presentation of the 'three-fifths' clause directly influences Willis's decision to drop the census amendment."
"Toby's forceful presentation of the 'three-fifths' clause directly influences Willis's decision to drop the census amendment."
"Willis's declaration of independence foreshadows his eventual decision to drop the census amendment, influenced by Toby's moral argument."
"Willis's declaration of independence foreshadows his eventual decision to drop the census amendment, influenced by Toby's moral argument."
"Toby's forceful presentation of the 'three-fifths' clause directly influences Willis's decision to drop the census amendment."
"Toby's forceful presentation of the 'three-fifths' clause directly influences Willis's decision to drop the census amendment."
"Willis's decision to drop the amendment culminates in the final roll call vote where he votes 'yea,' resolving the legislative conflict."
"Willis's decision to drop the amendment culminates in the final roll call vote where he votes 'yea,' resolving the legislative conflict."
Key Dialogue
"TOBY: "Mandy, would you read please from Article 1 Section 2?""
"MANDY (reading): "'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 the whole number of persons including those bound to service for a term of years.'""
"TOBY: "It says which shall be determined by adding the whole number of free persons. And three fifths of all other persons. Three fifths of all other persons. They meant you Mr. Willis. Didn't they?""
"WILLIS: "Well, then I change my mind. I think we should drop the census amendment and let the Appropriations Bill go through as is.""