The Constitution is indisputably one of the most important documents written in American history to this day. However, deciding what would be included within the final draft was not as easy as some had hoped. Many compromises had to be made, and men had to settle for a middle ground approach. The most important compromise was the Great Compromise, adopted on July 16th, 1787. Named accordingly, the Great Compromise brought together the ideas of the Virginia and New Jersey plans. Each plan had it’s own version of what the federal system would consist of. The Virginia Plan abandoned the federal system created by the Articles, in favor of a new model of government that had both federal and national features. The Virginia Plan called for a two-house legislature determined by population. On the other hand, the New Jersey Plan called for a modified federal system based on the existing Articles of Confederation. The plan called for a single legislature in which each state would have one vote. However, because no one could agree on which plan of action to adapt, a compromise had to be made. The plans were at odds because one favored small states while the other favored large states. The Great Compromise, however, was able to provide equal representation for both large and small states. It included an …show more content…
The Great Compromise was able to bring together the views of large and small states when it came to the decision of how the legislature of America would be structured. Although it may have not completely satisfied everyone, it came to a nearly perfect middle ground. Oliver Ellisworth and Roger Sherman, the two individuals who devised the Great Compromise, did a great job of including equal representation for all. At the end of the day the Great Compromise was the most important compromise because it solved the issue over representation based on population versus equal representation among the
The Virginia Plan and the New Jersey plan had their differences: the latter wanting equal representation on the national legislature while the first wanted representation based on population size. One could see the problem the Virginia Plan could cause, since the majority of the population at the time lived in the Northern states and therefore would give states like Virginia and North Carolina a majority rule. The New Jersey Plan also caused an issue, since the states with smaller populations could have a majority rule over the larger states.
The convention was deadlocked and appeared ready to fall apart when Roger Sherman proposed a compromise. Sherman�s proposal has come to be known as the Great Compromise. It called for a Congress with two houses (also known as "bicameralism") � the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate would give equal representation to all of the states. Each state would have two senators that would be chosen by the state legislature. This part of the plan satisfied the small states. The House of Representatives would base representation on a state�s population (one
Several delegates submitted plans for consideration that would strengthen the national government two such plans were the Virginia and the New Jersey Plan. Despite much of Virginia’s plan being accepted, if a compromise had not been reached the New Jerseys plan would have been more workable because it offered: equal representation of the states, provided operational means to congress, and was not a radical departure from the Articles of the Confederation. To begin with the unequal representation of the states in the Virginia Plan was of great concern and controversy while the New Jersey Plan retained equal representation of the states. Virginia proposed a bicameral legislature that included elections by the people and appointments by those elected.
In addition, the Great Compromise guarded against tyranny by making sure the larger states would not have more power than the smaller states. The Great Compromise was an agreement to create a two-house legislature composed of a House of Representatives and a Senate. A state’s amount of representatives in the House would be based off of population, while the representation for each state in the Senate is equal.(Document D) Thus, the larger states, such as New York, would not overpower the smaller states, such as Rhode Island.
In response to the Virginia Plan, William Patterson created the New Jersey Plan (sometimes called the Patterson Plan) in order to give an even amount of vote throughout the colonies. It was also based on the Articles of Confederation, or “it was a proposal to ‘revise’ the Articles of Confederation”. This was the original constitution for the government that was supposed to follow after the Revolutionary War. The document generally stated that the Congress should be able to create taxes. The Congress should also be allowed to “regulate and interstate commerce”. The executive and judicial branch would be created under the New Jersey Plan. The executive branch was able to choose the members of the judicial branch, who then would serve for life. The New Jersey Plan also stated that there should be equal vote throughout the states, or each state should have the same amount of the vote as all the other states. The document also stated that ...
This task was easier said than done. The fear of creating a government with too much power was a fear that was very much alive throughout the states. Tyranny was a common factor in developing governments, the delegates were seeking to avoid this error. Two ground rules were put into place for the Convention. The first was that any and all deliberations were to remain secretive. The second was that no topic or decisions would be considered closed and could therefore be up for debate and revision at any time. Once these rules were agreed upon, business started. The two contenders were the Virginia Plan, which had the larger states rooting, and the New Jersey Plan, claiming the votes of the smaller states. Under the Virginia Plan, legislature would be two houses and would be represented based on population. Under the New Jersey Plan, legislature would be one house and each state would have equal representation regardless of population. An agreement could not be reached between these two plans, instead a compromise was made. The Great Compromise met each side with an upper and lower house. The upper house was the Senate and would provide equal representation that was elected by the lower house. The lower house was the House of Representatives and would be dispersed based on population of the states. This compromise satisfied the small and large states, giving a
As I stated earlier each state wanted to be represented according to different factors. The states with bigger populations wanted representation to be based solely off of population. The states with smaller populations wanted there to be a fixed number of representatives per state, regardless of size or population. The Connecticut Compromise resolved this issue by forming the two houses that we have today.
Although the Articles had problems of their own, they had constructive ideas that lead to the Constitution, which ended up being one of the most important documents written in US history.
The Great Compromise, is also referred to as, The Great Connecticut Compromise, was headed by Franklin. The Compromise was discussed in meeting by a committee, at the constitutional convention was held in 1787. This was to accomplish and settle the interests for both the small and large states. It had allowed the for one to lead in the senate and the other in the House by an arrangement, that each of the states would have two representatives in the Senate no matter what the size of the state. However, any provisions, were further granted based on the populace of the house (Wilson, Dilulio, Jr. and Bose, 23).
Senate... senate shall be composed of two senators from each state”, Stated document D. This clearly explains that Representation in Congress should be based on population in the House of Representatives and equality in the Senate by sending two senators from each state no matter the size of the state.*The Great Compromise guard against tyranny by Hensing a double security by having two systems within the
The plan to divide the government into three branches was proposed by James Madison, at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He modeled the division from who he referred to as ‘the Perfect Governor,’ as he read Isaiah 33:22; “For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; He will save us.” http://www.eadshome.com/QuotesoftheFounders.htm
The Federalist and the Anti-federalist argued a lot over what should be ratified or what should be somewhere and what shouldn’t. This caused many arguments between them. It all started because of the Continental Congress trying to create a new government. This didn’t go over well with the states though because of all of the arguments over how it should be structured. So they put forward the idea of the New Jersey and Virginia plan. These Plans did not workout out for both large and small states. But one day a man named Roger Sherman created the Great Compromise which satisfied both small and big states. Another argument between the Northern and Southern states came about when the Three-Fifths compromise started. This Compromise allowed ⅗
The first proposals to this new plan were the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan. The Virginia Plan called for a separation of powers among the government’s three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. Some states proposed this idea and came up with the New Jersey Plan, which called for all of the states to have equal representation from Congress. In order to move forward from the deadlock of the two proposals, the Connecticut Compromise was enacted. This decided that legislature would be bicameral, which meant that there would be two houses: one would have equal representation and one would be based on state population. This unified the states under a federal system. To this day, there are three types of Fe...
In creating the Constitution, the states had several different reactions, including a rather defensive reaction, but also an understanding reaction. As a document that provided the laws of the land and the rights of its people. It directs its attention to the many problems in this country; it offered quite a challenge because the document lent itself to several views and interpretations, depending upon the individual reading it. It is clear that the founders’ perspectives as white, wealthy or elite class, American citizens would play a role in the creation and implementation of The Constitution.
Unlike many other foundational documents written by other counties, the US Constitution has held strong from the start. The Constitution is at the center of our everyday lives and is the reason we are able to live with the freedom and security that we do. As the Constitutions author, contents, and effect on the US are evaluated it is very clear why America holds so strongly to the foundation the Constitution set in place.