Why The Phrase Compromise Makes A Good Umbrella But A Poor Roof

British poet James Russell Lowell describes compromise best in his quote “Compromise makes a good umbrella but a poor roof.” This quote rings especially true in the case of the Constitutional Convention and the compromises made there. The compromises reached on the major disputes between large and small, Northern and Southern an Free and Slave States at the Constitutional Convention created riffs between the states and the people. The Convention’s compromises provided a short-term fix to a long-term and complex problem, which in the end led to dissatisfaction and ultimately the American Civil War.

The Constitutional Convention took place from May 14th, 1787 to September 17th, 1787. The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and its purpose was to come up with revisions to the

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention soon began to argue over issues like representation in the Legislation, slavery, and taxation. Many compromises had to happen between the states for the new Constitution to become law; these included the Connecticut Compromise, the 3/5th Compromise, and the Tariff Compromise. The Connecticut Compromise was an agreement between the New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan. This plan created a bicameral legislature in which the lower house’s , the House of Representatives, members would be given based on population and in the upper house, the Senate, representation would be divided equally with every state getting two representatives. (Perritano, 2016)The 3/5th Compromise was a compromise dealing with apportionment of representation according to