As a result, compromise was desperately needed. One major issue the delegates encountered was giving fair representation to both large and small states.. The large states favored Madison's Virginia Plan. According to the Virginia Plan, there would be a bicameral 2 houses legislature with membership based on each state's population.
The voters would elect members of the lower house who would then elect members of the upper house. Both houses would vote for the country's president and judges. This was clearly not fair to the smaller states, who would have less representation in this system.
The solution came in the form of a compromise proposed by statesmen Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut. The Great Compromise created two legislative bodies in Congress. Also known as the Sherman Compromise or the Connecticut Compromise, the deal combined proposals from the Virginia large state plan and the New Jersey small state plan.
According to the Great Compromise, there would be two national legislatures in a bicameral Congress.
In , the Seventeenth Amendment was passed, tweaking the Senate system so that Senators would be elected by the people. George Washington presiding over the Constitutional Convention, Smaller states have disproportionately more power in the Senate.
The imbalance of proportionate power favoring smaller states in the Senate means that interests in those states, such as mining in West Virginia or hog farming in Iowa, are more likely to get attention—and money—from federal coffers.
Eight states already had constitutions that included a bill of rights, so one might have been drafted quickly. Three months after the Constitution was signed, Thomas Jefferson wrote to Madison saying that it had been a big mistake to omit a bill of rights.
When the Constitution was being ratified by the states, many people opposed the Constitution just because it did not contain a bill of rights. In Massachusetts, and in six other states, the ratifying conventions recommended adding a bill of rights to the Constitution. And soon after the first Congress convened in, it responded to the request of the seven states and approved 10 constitutional amendments drafted by James Madison that became the Bill of Rights. On Monday, September 17, when the delegates met to sign the Constitution, Benjamin Franklin had prepared a speech.
When the document was presented to Congress and to the country, it surprised everyone. In fact, it provoked controversy in many states. But by July , nine states had ratified it, and it went into effect. Elections were held, and on March 4, , the first Congress and president, George Washington, took office under the new U. Compromises had been necessary at every point, and in some cases produced unforeseen results.
But the Constitution succeeded beyond even the hopes of its strongest advocates. We have become a nation. Why do you think the delegates voted to keep their discussions secret?
Do you think they should have? What were the major debates over the Constitution? What compromises were reached in each? If you had been a delegate, would you have agreed to each of these compromises?
One of the major compromises in the Constitutional Convention was between the small states and big states. The small states wanted each state to have the same number of representatives in Congress. The big states wanted representation based on population. The compromise was to have one house of Congress the House of Representatives base its representation on population with each state having at least one representative and for each state to have two senators in other house the Senate regardless of population.
This compromise has worked for more than years. But critics claim that the Senate is undemocratic because it gives each state two senators regardless of population. Divide the class into small groups. Imagine that your group is a commission asked to make recommendations on the Senate. Do the following:. Decide on one of these options: a Leave the Senate as it is, b Abolish the Senate, c Make the Senate based on population, or d Make up your own option. Alumni Volunteers The Boardroom Alumni.
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