Constitutional Congress

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Constitutional Congress

At the Constitutional Congress of 1787, The Delegates frequently used compromise to resolve controversial issues such as, Representation in the Government, Slavery in the new country, and Also the Morality of the Slave Trade. If it wasn’t for the ability of the Founders of our country to compromise, Who knows that the United States of America would have existed at all. The constitution that they wrote over two hundred years ago, still is the basis of our government today, with only few changes. The creators were smart enough to allow room for change and growth, they knew that the document would have to change for future problems, and changes. They were aware that with time the government and the people under that government would have new demands and be faced with many new situations.

One thing that the states reached a compromise on at the Constitutional Congress was the Problems concerning, Representation from each state. The larger states wanted the representation to be determined on the state population, The smaller states wanted each state to have an equal amount of representatives. The solution they derived became known as the Great Compromise, They decided that they would have two houses of representatives, one based on the population of the state and the other with an equal; amount of representatives from each sate, therefore each of the two groups got what they wanted. This was also an effective way to divide the powers of the government.

Another compromise made between the states was concerning Slavery. The North wanted The Slaves in the south to be accounted for so that they could be counted as people and be taxed. The South wanted the Slaves also to be counted but only for the population count, They knew if they had a higher population then they could have more representatives in the congress, and thus have more power. They Reached a compromise known as the Three/Fifths plan, This plan indicated that three/fifths of the slave population would be accounted for both taxation and towards the population of the state. This way both were happy.

Lastly an Agreement was reached between the States on the Slave trade, The north wanted the Slave Trade to be abolished, and for the central government to Regulate commerce. The South needed the slaves for their plantations and they were afraid if the government regulated commerce then they would be taxed on their exports.

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