LARGE STATES “We favor the
Virginia Plan in which
representation in congress is
based on population. Sates with
more people should have more
reps in Congress.”
SMALL STATES: “We support
the New Jersey Plan. All states
should have the same number
of reps in Congress.”
SOUTHERN STATES “When a
census is taken to determine
how many representatives each
state gets in Congress, slaves
should be included in the total.”
NORTHERN STATES: “Slaves
should not be counted because
they are not citizens and have
no political rights.”
SLAVE STATES “Congress
should not be able to stop us
from importing slaves to work
on our plantations.”
FREE STATES: “Limits should
be placed on the number of
slaves being brought into the
US. Our nation is founded on
liberty and slavery ignores that
idea.”
AGRICULTURAL STATES
“Congress should not tax
imports & exports. If they do,
then we’ll pay a higher price for
foreign goods. By taxing
exports, then it’ll be harder to
sell our products to foreign
countries”
MANUFACTURING STATES:
“Congress should tax imports so
that our products will be
cheaper than foreign goods.”
ARISTOCRATS: “Common
people cannot be trusted to
pick good leaders. They
should elect leading citizens
would would then chose the
Congress and president.”
DEMOCRATS: “We oppose
this rich man’s government!
The president and Congress
should be chosen by the
voters.”
Write the real compromise the delegates came up with in these columns:
Fold here
Fold this half up, and write your idea for a compromise on the back of this page as you study each controversy.