Multiple Issues In Constitutional Congress

Multiple issues faced the members of the Constitutional Congress as they attempted to write a new constitution for the United States. Representation for the colonies in Congress was a major issue at the time, and was resolved by the Great Compromise. Also, the writing of the new constitution formed two different groups of people, the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. Their beliefs conflicted with each other, One group believing in a strong federal government and the other believing in strong local governments. A compromise was reached, the compromise known as the Bill of Rights. Finally, there was the problem of slaves. Some people believed that slave votes should not count in elections. Others believed that they should be counted as full

There were two plans proposed to the convention. The Virginia plan planned to establish three branches of government, two separate houses of Congress, and allowed the federal government to veto local state laws. This plan was opposed by smaller states because they would have little influence in decisions made by Congress. However this was appealing the larger states because they would be more influential and their opinion would be valued more than smaller states. The New Jersey Plan planned to have a one house Congress, and establish executive and judicial branches of government. Also, they planned to establish new trade and tax regulations. This plan was appealing to smaller states because their vote would be equal to that of other states. This was not as appealing the larger states because they believed that they should have more of an influence because of the difference in population. Eventually, this conflict was resolved with the Connecticut Compromise. This compromise established two houses of Congress. The House of Representatives would have representatives proportional to the population of the state. The Senate would hold an equal number of representatives for each

Whether or not to count votes from slaves as equal to that of a citizen was an important conflict the convention was forced to resolve. People, mostly from the northern states did not want slaves to count as equal voters. This is because the north did not have slaves but the South did. So southern slave owners could force their slaves into voting the way they want them to, thus rigging the election to make decisions that would benefit the south. The southern states loved this idea and believed that slaves should count as equal voters. This was because they new the benefit to having votes on their side. The compromise that resolved this conflict was the Three-Fifths Compromise. it was known as this because the result was that every slave vote would count as three-fifths the value of any normal citizens vote. This pleased both the southern and northern states as it would be less likely for slave votes to swing an election.
In conclusion, the Constitutional Convention faced many conflicts. Being forced to resolve conflicts on Congress representation, local and central governments, and slave voting. All these conflicts would have changed the way the United States developed, and it was important that they get it right. The Constitutional Convention ability to come to reliable compromises was influential to the success of the