Great Compromise
Reading:
The Great Compromise, also known as the Connecticut Compromise was submitted to the
constitutional convention to break the deadlock created by the New Jersey Plan and The
Virginia Plan. The convention decided, after months of debate, that the legislature will be
bicameral, meaning there will be two houses, one house will have equal representation, while the
other is based on population of the state. After further argument, the delegates agreed to
what is really a great compromise also known as The Connecticut Compromise. It is known as The
Connecticut Compromise because Roger Sherman who has a large part in this compromise is
from Connecticut. Members in The House of Representatives or the lower house will be
appointed among the states according to population and they will be elected by the people. In
the upper house or the Senate, all states will have an equal number of representatives, which
will be chosen by the state legislatures. The House has the power to originate all bills for
raising or spending money. The Senate favors the smaller states. Now with two senators each,
every state has equal representation.
Primary Source:
Read each quote and decide which plan (VA, NJ, or GC) the speaker supports.
A. “Some of the members… wish for two branches in the general legislature and are friends
to a good [strong] national government, but we would sooner submit to a foreign power
than submit to be deprived, in both branches of the legislature, of an equal suffrage
[vote], and thereby be thrown under the domination of the larger states.”
B. “We need a stronger federal government, not strong state governments”
C. “We would never be able to defend ourselves without an equality of votes…”
D. "We were partly national; partly federal. He trusted that on this middle ground a
compromise would take place."
E. “Resolved that the National Legislature ought to consist of two branches.”
F. “The one state, one vote notion creates inequality between states”