At the Constitutional Convention in 1787 differences between the delegates and the interests they represented made compromise absolutely necessary. The Great Compromise was made because small states felt there wasn’t enough representation for them in Congress. The Three-Fifths Compromise was established to solve the problem of slavery representation in Southern states. Delegates at the Constitutional Convention had to face the problem of giving fair representation to both small and large states. James Madison proposed a plan called the Virginia Plan, where there would be 2 Houses both of which is based on population. This plan was supported by the larger states. Then, William Patterson made the New Jersey Plan which would
The state representatives often failed to see the big picture, and think with the nation’s best interests first and foremost. Fortunately compromise was found and Roger Sherman brought together the Connecticut Compromise, which focused on settling the large and small state dispute. Only after three fifths and trade compromises could be agreed upon over the major arguments was the constitution made a viable option, and then
all states were represented equally in the Senate. This made the smaller states happy. In the House of Representatives, representation was based on population. This pleased the bigger states. The Great Compromise settled the method of representation in the legislative branch.
The Constitutional Convention is where the Great Compromise is being settled. What is the Great Compromise? The Great Compromise is an agreement that large and small states reached
At the Constitutional Convention, our founding fathers met to reconstruct the Articles of Confederation, not knowing that they would create the United States Constitution, an entire new format of government. They wanted to create a government that was powerful yet restricted in certain ways, in order to create equal representation for all people. Three main compromises were made at the Constitutional Convention. These compromises were The Great Compromise, the Three-Fifths Compromise, and the addition of the Bill of Rights.
While debating how to set up representation in Congress, the large states wanted Congress representation to be based on population, so they would have more say in the government. The small states wanted each state to have only 2 people represent, so everyone would have an equal say. Together they decided that they would have two houses in congress, called the house of representative and the senate. The house of representatives is based on the states population(Source D), appeasing the large states. The senate had 2 representatives, (Source D).The small state-large state compromise protects against tyranny because it ensures that the large states do not take away power from the small states when it comes to making laws.
The Compromise of 1850 was an attempt by the U.S Congress to settle divisive issues between the North and South, including slavery expansion, apprehension in the North of fugitive slaves, and slavery in the District of Columbia. The Compromise of 1850 failed because Senator John C. Calhoun from the South and Senator William Seward from the North could not agree on what Henry Clay was putting down. Part of the compromise was to make California a slavery free state which benefits the North, and enforcing a stricter fugitive slave law which benefits the South. Both the North and South opposed what the other was benefiting from. What sparked the failure of the Compromise was the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.
The Virginia Plan was considered unfair to the small states and the New Jersey plan was considered unfair to the large states. Soon after, Roger Sherman from Connecticut wrote “The Great Compromise.” Many
Finally, the Small State-Large State Compromise is a framer of the constitution that helps guard against tyranny. “Representatives shall be appointed according to the population.” “The Senate of the the United States shall be composed to two senators from each state.” (Constitution of the United States of America, 1787) (Doc D) Each state had equal representation, yet the larger states had the representation the amount of people living in the state.
After the countless debates, the Great Compromise was what the convention would come into agreement with representation by population in the House of Representatives “The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least one Representative. ”(add footnote) The smaller states were pleased with equal representation in the Senate “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senates from each state and each Senator shall have one vote.”(add
There were several Constitutional Compromises which had to be made in order for the Constitution to be ratified by the several states. The Great Compromise (also known as the Connecticut Compromise) combined the Virginia and New Jersey Plans which concerned the representation the States would receive. In the end, the two chambers of Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate were created. The number of representatives a State would be able to send to the House would be determined by population, and each state would get two seats in the
After no progress of which plan to go through with, Roger Sherman came up with the Great Compromise. The compromise called for two house legislator. Members of the house of representatives or the lower house would be elected by popular vote. Members of the Senate or the upper house would be chosen by the state legislators. Each state would only have two senators no matter the size, or population of the state.
The New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan were reconciled by using both ideas in which the lower house of the legislature was represented by the basis of population, and the upper house would be equally
Eventually, the delegates compromised on the slavery issue as well. Slaves were declared to count as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of population counts. However, neither the word slavery nor slave was used in the Constitution. Rather, it refers to the Three-Fifths Compromise as applying to “all other persons. ”Still, it was apparent whom the Three-Fifths Compromise targeted, since it went a step further and addressed the issue of the African slave trade.
This compromise helped give each state equal say in the government. As John Samples said to the Cato Institute in In Defense of the Electoral College, “ … the Electoral College makes sure that the states count in presidential elections… an important part of our federalist system - a system worth preserving… federalism is central to our grand constitutional effort to restrain power.” (Doc C). Since this nation is founded on federalism (the sharing of power between national and state governments), it only makes sense that each individual state would want equal say in the nation’s government. Samples knew that to keep the government running smoothly, each state needed equal representation in the government, thus the Electoral College.
The Constitution was called a bundle of compromises due to the fact that the delegates to the constitutional convention were forced to make multiple compromises so all the states would agree to the constitution. The three compromises made were these: The Connecticut Compromise, The Three-fifths Compromise, and The Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise. The Connecticut Compromise was an agreement made by large and small states that constructed the legislative structure and representation that each state would possess under the constitution. The Three-fifths compromise was intended for slave states that wanted to count all their slaves for population which means they would have more representation, the free states didn’t like this so they made