The Constitutional Convention:
It’s All About Compromise
55 delegates met in Philadelphia in May of 1787 to
revise the Articles of Confederation, but quickly realized
the Articles were not worth fixing--a new government
was needed.
The men realized that the new Legislative
Branch would be the most powerful part of the
new government--how it would be organized
was one of the biggest arguments.
The Virginia Plan ~ created by James Madison
Madison is called the
“architect of the Constitution”
because he designed so
much of it.
Madison’s Virginia Plan
called for a bicameral
legislature ~ bicameral
means having two houses
or levels
The lower house in the legislature would be
called the House of Representatives.
It would be elected by the people of each state.
The upper house in the legislature would be
called the Senate.
The Senate would
be elected by the
members of the
House.
Madison’s plan called for
a two-house legislature
based on population--the
more people a state had
the more representatives
they would send to the
new Congress.
For this reason, the Virginia
Plan was favored by the
large states.
The New Jersey Plan ~ created by William Paterson
Called for a unicameral
(one-house) legislature
To make things fair, Paterson’s legislature was
based on equality -- all states would get the
same number of representatives.
For this reason, the New Jersey Plan
was favored by the small states.
The Great Compromise
also called
the Connecticut Compromise
Proposed by Roger Sherman of Connecticut
It called for a
bicameral
Congress.
The lower house, called the House of
Representatives, would be based on
state population, but states were
guaranteed at least one
representative.
The upper house, called the
Senate, would be based on
equality. All states would receive
two Senators.
The Three-Fifths Compromise
The Southern states wanted to
count all their slaves as a part
of their state’s population, but
did not want to pay taxes on
any of them.
The North did not want
slaves to be counted and
insisted that the South pay
taxes on all their slaves.
Compromise ~ the South could count 3/5 of their slaves
for representation and taxation
Ex.--for every 5 slaves, 3 get counted