The Virginia and New Jersey plans. Virginia and New Jersey were both arguing how that one
state got more votes than the other. “During the summer of 1787, delegates to the Constitutional
Convention in Philadelphia debated on what type of legislative body the new national government of
the United States should have.” (Mr. E, 2019) According to the Virginia Plan, states with a large
population would have more representatives than smaller states. Large states supported this plan, while
smaller states generally opposed it. Under the New Jersey Plan, the unicameral legislature with one vote
per state was inherited from the Articles of Confederation. Virginia plan advocated two legislative
houses of which membership would be based on population. New Jersey plan advocated one legislative
house, membership in which would be equal for all states. “The Great Compromise blended the Virginia
and New Jersey plans, easing the fears of the small states.” (Mr. E, 2019)
The three-fifths Compromise. “The three-fifths compromise was an agreement between
Southern and Northern states.” (Mr. E, 2019) The Southern states wanted to count the entire slave
population. This would increase their number of members of Congress. The Northern delegates and
others opposed to slavery and wanted to count only free people, including free blacks in the North and
South. The Northern just thought that there was too much slaves to count.
The Compromise of 1790. Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison were
arguing where District of Columbia’s new location should be. “Alexander Hamilton wanted the Capitol to
be in his home state of New York, but Jefferson and Madison wanted it on the Potomac River in the
South.” (Mr. E, 2019) While they were arguing, Alexander Hamilton was trying to get “Congress to pass
his financial plan to set the country on a bright financial future.” (Mr. E, 2019) The problem was that a
large chunk of this plan Alexander had was that the national government would assume all state debts
incurred in the Revolutionary War. The southern states already paid of their war debts and the Northern
didn’t. Alexander decided that they can put the capital in the south if they helped the Northern pay of
their debts. The Southern agreed and built the capital in the south. To prevent any bias, the capital will
be free from the influence of any one state. That’s how the national debt was made.
The Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights is a formal declaration of the legal and civil rights of the
citizens of any state, country, and federation. Alexander Hamilton didn’t want the bill of rights while
Jefferson and Madison wanted the bill of rights. Thomas Jefferson wanted to compromise the Bill of
Rights, but he also didn’t want to put silly things in it. He needed to know what the people can and
cannot do. “Anti-federalists argued that there needed to be clear and strict boundaries” (Mr. E, 2019)
The Anti-federalists always wanted to argue about everything. They wanted to take away the basic
rights for the people but have boundaries for the government. “If the rights of the people were not
written down and guaranteed, Anti-federalists agued, even a well-intentioned government could
eventually grow to take away the people’s basic rights. That’s what the anti-federals wanted, to grow a
new government and take away the people’s rights. In the end, Thomas Jefferson was able to make the
Bill of Rights. Alexander Hamilton was happy that Jefferson made the Bill of Rights.