Lemon is incorrect; as are you.
The South wanted to count slaves as whole persons for the purpose of representation in Congress. True, slaves could not vote but neither could women and children at the time; and women and children were counted as whole persons for the purpose of representation in Congress. No one in the North disputed that.
It (counting slaves as whole persons) would have been a first step by the South, albeit a baby-step, towards recognizing the concept of racial equality. The North would have none of it.
Had the South insisted on counting slaves as whole persons, the North would never have agreed to form our nation.
In hindsight, the South should have realized that the North was going to be trouble.
The difference being that women and children were not property, could not be bought and sold, and had rights and privileges that slaves did not.
It (counting slaves as whole persons) would have been a first step by the South, albeit a baby-step, towards recognizing the concept of racial equality. The North would have none of it.
Oh absolute utter nonsense. Recognizing slaves as a whole person for the purposes of congressional representation would have done nothing but increase the disproportionate representation of slave states in Congress at the expense of the free states. The suggestion that it might have led to blacks, free or slave, being recognized as equals is idiotic.
Had the South insisted on counting slaves as whole persons, the North would never have agreed to form our nation
Same with not counting them at all. Hence the compromise.
In hindsight, the South should have realized that the North was going to be trouble.
The North should have done likewise.