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The Great Compromise: Constitutional Convention In 1787

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The Great Compromise, also known as the Connecticut compromise, resolved many issues having to do with representation. This agreement was made at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The debate was between large states and small states. The compromise is the number of representatives in the lower house would be decided according to the population of every state; one representative that is elected for every one thousand residents. This was changed to thirty thousand recently before the constitution was signed. Every state would have the same amount of representatives in the upper house (Robertson). This was a simple compromise that was needed because we could not all agree on one set of rules. The Great Compromise is “game changer” that saved …show more content…

Before all this, “The congresses only consisted of one chamber with a certain number of representatives from every states” (Drinan). Congress went from unicameral to bicameral which divided up the congress. The question was about the states having a certain number of representatives. Larger states and states with a higher population supported the Virginia Plan, which was based on the population. The higher population, the more representatives they could have. This is where the disagreement is because, “ Delegates from smaller states supported the New Jersey Plan, under which each state would send the same number of representatives to Congress” (Drinan). The smaller and larger states continued to debate over this and that is why the first compromise was created. Smaller states argued that, “despite their lower populations, their states held an equal legal status to that of the larger states, and that proportional representation would be unfair to them” (Drinan). To accommodate both sides, The Great Compromised did …show more content…

The Great Compromise created a new issue concerning slaves and how they would be counted when figuring out a state’s population (Valentine). The Great Compromise required an exact count of the population to decide how many representatives each state would be allowed to have in the lower house. The Southerners wanted to include the slaves which make up about forty-three percent of their population. Doing that they would have many more representatives compared to the Northern states. Northern states had very few slaves, and they did not want the Southern states to gain the advantage of greater representation in the new government. However, on the issue of tax assessment, the Northern and Southern states reversed their positions on who to count (Baker). This was later solved with the Three-Fifths Compromise. This was all added to the

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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

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The two plans allowed congress to have new powers to regulate the national defense and the economy. The only problem was that the Virginia plan wanted the bigger more populous states to have more of a say in the voting while the New Jersey Plan called for each state to have a equal number of votes. The delegates form each state finally agreed to send one person from each state to a grand committee which then they would vote and decide the issue at hand. On July, 1787 the grand committee approved what is called the Connecticut Compromise. This Compromise gave each state the same number of votes in the upper house but made the votes in the lower house matter on the population of a states.

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This adds to the Southern population thus giving them more representation. Although this gives the South more representation, it also means these slaves would be counted for tax purposes. These compromises helped resolve arguments going on which helped our new nation develop. The Great Compromise gave us a structure to follow that America still uses today. Today, there are four hundred and thirty-five representatives in the House of Representatives.

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The plan laid out a system by which the members of the House of Representatives were elected in proportion to the number of people in the state they represented, and the members of the Senate were equally distributed, regardless of the state. Although many of the details surrounding this system were debated at length, the core elements were eventually accepted into a structure we still use to this

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In the creating of the US Constitution, the creators hit many roadblocks. It was difficult for the state delegates to decide on much, especially because they were biased and in favor of their own states. The New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan were two examples of the disagreement of representation within the states in the legislative branch. The New Jersey Plan was in favor of equal representation throughout the states. The Virginia Plan was in favor of population representation, meaning the larger states would have more representation than the smaller states.

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The Great Compromise was Roger Sherman’s plan, and was an attempt to resolve the conflicts between the smaller states and larger states, settling the Virginia Plan and New Jersey Plan. The Virginia Plan called for a bicameral

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The New Jersey Plan was in favor of small states and wanted a unicameral legislature and all states to have equal representation. The Connecticut Compromise, also known as The Great Compromise, or Sherman’s Compromise, was reach during the United States Constitutional Convention in 1787,it was an agreement between two earlier proposals which solved the issue it called for a bicameral legislature with the upper chamber, called the Senate, determined by equal representation, and the lower chamber, called the House of Representatives, determined by the population of each state; it combined both interests. The Great Compromise was proposed to address the feelings from the smaller states that their interest would be drawn out by the larger states. However, the Three Fifths Compromise proposed by Judge James Wilson, and Roger Sherman. The Three Fifths Compromise is three out of every five slaves would be counted for taxes and population.

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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

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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

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The Virginia Plan, proposed by James Madison favored the larger states for a two-house Congress to be based on each state’s population. This, of course, was argued about because small states felt as if they would not have enough voice. In disapproval to the Virginia Plan came the New Jersey Plan. This plan argued for a one house Congress, with equal representation. This meant that each state would have the same number of members.

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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.

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The Great Compromise is a faction of the Constitutional Convention .It is also known as the Connecticut Compromise and was developed to ensure that all states would be represented equally in congress. Larger states favored the Virginia Plan which allowed states with a bigger population to have more representatives. Smaller states that preferred New Jersey Plan argued that each state should have the same amount of representatives sent to congress. These two plans were created because the states couldn’t agree on what type of legislatures to have and two prevent one house from having more power than the other .These plans failed which in resulted in the birth of The Great Compromise.

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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.

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When the Great Compromise was drafted and reached at the constitutional convention of 1787 it was did make sense to allow each state, regardless of population, to have to have an equal number of senators, as this allowed each state to have a voice within the Senate. It also made sense for purpose of legislature that the number of delegates from each state within the House of Representatives was based on each state’s population as it allowed for a semi true representation of the populations within all states. The representation was only semi true as the states only counted select portions of the people within the state, omitting women, Native Americans and only counting 3/5ths of the slave population. As to whether this same calculation is fair for Electoral College purposes, I do not believe that it is.

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And how much capital would equal a representative? No matter, thankfully there were 2 more compromises. The Randolph compromise; the two large houses would be population based, and the small house would be equal. And the Morris compromise. In my opinion, and the opinion of the majority, the Morris compromise was far superior to the others.

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