What Was The Great Compromise

Deciding how America's government would work during the creation of the constitution, also decided the future of America and its decisions. Our government derives from the creation of the American government after the revolutionary war in 1787. To get all of the state’s to agree on the constitution many compromises had to be made. The delegates from the thirteen states met to change America. Our government today is based on the solutions and compromises made at the constitutional convention. One of the biggest compromises that set the stage for the rest of the constitution's success was made from different parts proposed by different sections of America. The Great Compromise would not have been successful, if America was not willing to use different viewpoints, create small compromises in between large ones, and combine thoughts to form something that all states would be happy with.

The first compromise that the Great Compromise derived from was the Virginia plan, proposed by James Madison and Edmund Randolph. The Virginia plan said that the government would have three branches, the first being legislature that

made the laws, the second was the executive who enforced the laws, and the third being the judiciary branch which interpreted the laws. They also proposed that there would be two houses that would hold the power of the taxes, regulating commerce, and making laws when states are unable. The houses would have representatives based on the state’s population or wealth. The second plan the Great Compromise derived from was the New Jersey plan. This plan was proposed by the smaller states after hearing the Virginia plan and noticing how little impact they had. This plan called for a legislature with only one house, and each house would only have one vote per state. It also gave the legislature the power to regulate trade and raise money by taxing foreign goods. Having the same number of votes per state benefited the north because they had more states, so they would get more votes in the proposed house. The compromise took the viewpoints of the Virginia who was the south and the New Jersey, which was the north and combined them. Both sides gave up some of what they proposed in their plans to create the compromise. They sacrificed some of what they wanted to make Americas government better and make it successful.

The compromise also includes some small compromises that were an element of the Great Compromises success. One of those key compromises was about slavery, and through much debate, was the Three-Fifths compromise. Under this compromise, three- fifths of the slaves would be counted for taxes on the states and three-fifths would be counted as population.
This compromise helped because it took a largely debated on the problem and momentarily solved it. The North and South both semi-agreed to this small compromise. They both got parts that they had asked for and both gave some parts up in order to agree. The success of such a big problem being dealt with was a big hurdle in the success of the Great compromise and further advance its progress. Small compromises improved problems greatly and steered the constitution in the direction of achievement.

The great compromise did not help the constitution in the way of peoples’ rights.

The constitution was disliked because it did not include rights for the people. This could be a reason why the constitution is seen as unsuccessful. Not having rights was definitely an important point to be included in the Constitution. The Constitution was made to set up the government portion of America; therefore, it was The main focus of the convention. After the constitution was released, many people were angry I did not have their rights included. Then the Bill of Rights was created. In a way it is kind of a good thing that they wrote it afterwards. That allowed them to have more time with the people's rights and put all the information needed into the bill. The bill was also added to the constitution, making the “second draft” or the add on of the bill a

success.

The compromise of slavery did not last or work very well, and it made the representation in the government difficult to count. Though during the Civil War, slavery became a very debated causing made their interpretation of slaves difficult, the amount of representatives in the house was based on population and slaves counted as three-fifths of that. But during the Civil War that was forgotten. This helped the representation because it made it more exact. Three-fifths made a lot of populations not whole because it depended on the amount of slaves. Not having slaves count made the populations in the representation exact. Though it did take a part of the population away it fixed the amount so it was whole. The only people who may have wanted more representation was the north. They already did not have slaves, so it didn't really matter either way for them and would not have benefited them.

In conclusion, the Great Compromise may not have been such an accomplishment if the delegates were not willing to use and administer different proposals from different sections of the convention. Bargain on problems that would be included within the compromise and adjust its requirements. Combine their ideas together and sacrifice points to agree with one another. The Great Compromise, Constitutional Convention, Constitution, and American government were very successful and the government today is based off the working success that that government provided.