Introducing
Your new presentation assistant.
Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.
Trending searches
On May 29, the President of the Convention, George Washington, called up Edmund Randolph, to present the Virginia Plan. The Virginia Plan was a plan for a whole new government. That new government would have three branches. The first branch was the legislative branch, which made the laws. The second branch was the executive branch, which enforced the laws. The last branch, was the judicial branch, which interpreted the laws. There would be two houses in the legislative branch. In both houses, the number of representatives would be based on each state's wealth or population. The larger states supported this plan, the smaller states did not. The problem with this plan was that the smaller states opposed it because they were worried that the larger states would end up ruling the others. In the end, more delegates voted for this plan than the New Jersey Plan.
There were 55 delegates at the Constitutional Convention. The Convention was a very well-educated group. About half were lawyers, three-fourths were members of the Continental Congress, and many had been members of their state legislatures, having helped with their state constitutions. These delegates were called The Founding Fathers, or Founders of the United States. George Washington, known for being the hero of the Revolution, and Benjamin Franklin, a famous scientist, were present at the Convention. James Madison was also very active in the Convention. Importantly, not everyone delegate was at the convention. For example, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were overseas, and Patrick Henry refused to attend. There was no racial diversity between the delegates. For example, there were no Native Americans, African Americans, or women at the meeting.
With the two alternative plans, a solution was needed. That solution to the debate was The Great Compromise, also known as the Connecticut Compromise. The Great Compromise happened after the delgates had debated for a long time. The Convention Committee offered a solution to both sides. To satisfy smaller states, each state would have an equal number of votes in the Senate. To satisfy the larger states, the Committee, that created The Great Compromise, put representation in the House of Representatives according to state populations. The convention passed it on July 16, 1787. The solution to satisfy the slave population was called the Three-Fifths Compromise. That compromise proposed that three-fifths of the slave population would be counted when setting direct taxes and to determine representation in legislature. These are the two solutions to the conventions debates.
The other plan that the Convention considered, was the New Jersey Plan, created by William Patterson. This plan called for a legislature with only one house. In that house each state would only have one vote. It was similar to the Articles of Confederation because they both wanted to provide equal representation. It gave the legislature the power to regulate trade internationally. The major problem with this plan was that it did not provide the the broader powers that the Virginia Plan offered.
Many events led to The Great Compromise. One of the most significant events associated with The Great Compromise were the Articles of Confederation. In the Articles, the states had most of the power, and the national government had very little. Each state only had one vote in Congress and the states had the power to set taxes and enforce national laws. The national government had the power to wage war, sign peace treaties, and issue money. Shays's Rebellion was another reason that The Great Compromise occurred. Shays's Rebellion happened because the legislature punished farmers with horrible consequences for not paying taxes, including auctioning their property, and then putting them in jail. The farmers asked the legislature to provide them with debt relief, but the legislature refused. In the end, lots of people won sympathy for the farmers. Those are just a few reasons why The Great Compromise happened.