2B – CT Compromise - Constructing A Government: The Founding And
The Constitution
Analyzing the Evidence Exercises
A unicameral (one-chamber) legislature with equal representation for each state was one of the unique
features of American government as it existed under the Articles of Confederation. For this reason, when
delegates met to debate a new Constitution they were very concerned about how any representational changes
would affect their states’ relative power and influence in the new Congress.
This figure shows the population of each state along with their delegates’ vote on two of the competing plans
for representation in the new Congress. The Connecticut Compromise, which represented a hybrid between
equal representation (as embodied in the Articles of Confederation and the New Jersey Plan) and the Virginia
Plan’s population-based system, called for a bicameral (two-chamber) legislature that employed equal
representation in the upper chamber and representation according to population in the lower chamber.
1. Name the two states that had the most to gain from the creation of a system that awarded legislative influence based on
population.
2. Name the two states that had the most to lose from the creation of a system that awarded legislative influence based on
population.
The vote on the Virginia Plan was to move from equal representation to a population-based system.
3. Of the six largest states, which ones voted in a manner consistent with an expectation that they cared about
maximizing their representation in Congress?
4. Which of the six largest states did not vote in a manner consistent with maximizing representation?
The table below shows the number of seats that each state would be given out of the total 65 under two
representational systems: one governed by equal representation and the other proportional to population (as
represented in the first House under the new Constitution).i
State
Population (under ThreeFifths Rule)i
EqualRepresentation
Proportional
Representation
Virginia
630,499
5
10
Pennsylvania
432,128
5
8
Massachusetts
378,556
5
8
North Carolina
354,692
5
5
New York
331,764
5
6
Maryland
278,514
5
6
Connecticut
236,596
5
5
South Carolina
206,235
5
5
New Jersey
179,570
5
4
New
Hampshire
141,836
5
3
Georgia
70,842
5
3
Rhode Island
68,729
5
1
Delaware
55,541
5
1
5. Recall from Chapter 1’s Analyzing the Evidence discussion that the median is a statistical term referring to
the observation in the fiftieth percentile (half the cases are larger and half are smaller). Which state from the
table above has the median population?
6. How did this state fare under the two competing representation plans?
i
Population data based on 1790 census. Source: Historical Census Browser. 2004. Retrieved 5 December 2011, from the University of Virginia,
Geospatial and Statistical Data Center: http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus/index.html (accessed 2/22/12). ↑