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Essays On The Great Compromise

The Three Great Compromises

The Three Great Compromises :

The United States of America was founded on the basis of compromise, but what does compromise really mean? According to the Webster's New World Dictionary compromise means an adjustment of opposing principles. Political systems use compromises in daily life. The Three Great Compromises that occurred early in this nation's government were the Connecticut Compromise, the 3/5 Compromise and finally the Commerce & Slave Trade Compromise. Were it not for these compromises the United States could still be governed under the Articles of Confederation.

The Connecticut Compromise was the most important compromise in the history of the U.S. government. The representatives from each state were going to change the government totally, from powerful state governments to a powerful central government which they vowed not to do when they declared independence from England. Rhode Island was so disgusted with the idea of changing the government that they did not even come to the meeting. Finally after all the debating and each state getting their say, they compromised on a plan where they would have two governmental houses, one being the House of Representatives and the second being the Senate, with the Senate being the stronger of the two houses. The House of Representatives was based on each state's population that is the more people in the state the more representatives that state would get. The Senate said that regardless of the state's population each state would get two representatives all with equal say.

The 3/5 Compromise was mainly about slaves. The issue in this compromise was should slaves be counted for determining representation for each state? The North did not want them to be counted because they were considered possessions, not citizens and that meant less representation for them. The South, on the other hand, wanted them to be counted because that meant that they could pass laws more beneficial to the South since they would have more representation. So they compromised and said that each slave counted 3/5 of a person.

The final compromise was the Commerce & Slave Trade Compromise. The issue here was should Congress be able to regulate trade and should the United States continue with slave trading? The North felt that Congress should control trade and put an end to slave trading. The South was fearful of Northern jealousy of Southern agriculture trade with England and the South was also wary of Congress regulating trade. The South also wished to trade slaves indefinitely. The compromise was that Congress would control trade (fairly) and the South would trade slaves for 20 more years.

The three great compromises in our history of the United States were critical to the success of the Constitution. The 3/5 Compromise, the Connecticut Compromise, and the Commerce & Slave Trade Compromise demonstrated that the Founding Fathers could reach a middle ground. These were much needed compromises, but were they effective for long term political harmony? And can Congress and the President ever compromise on a budget today?

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Sherman's Great Compromise Essay

912 Words4 Pages

There were a plethora of decisions during the Continental Convention of 1787 which helped construct the United States of America that we have today. The participant who had the greatest impact on the convention other than James Madison, is a delegate called Roger Sherman. He was a very influential person who had many accomplishments, among these were: being a well-respected politician, a lawyer who earned his degree from Yale University, a Connecticut senator, a Newton County surveyor, an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court, and a member of the Continental Congress. All of these things, would help shape the man who would forever change the United States of America. According to Thomas Kindig in the article, Signers of the Declaration…show more content…

On the other hand, delegates from less populous states favored the New Jersey Plan which declared that all states would have an equal amount of votes. This idea goes back to the Articles of Confederation giving each state one vote. Both ideas were strongly reinforced by their respective sides, but they needed to be combined together in a way that would satisfy both large and small states. With a final decision of five to four, the states passed the Great Compromise and it was officially adopted in July 16, 1781. The Great Compromise proposed that the United States would have a bi-cameral legislature instead of an unicameral legislature. There would be two houses: an upper house known as The Senate, and a lower house as The House of Representatives. There would be two senators per state, which favored the equality that small states were longing for. The number of House of Representatives per state would depend on how populous the state was according to the decennial census, giving citizens in large states equal power to citizens of small states. Senators were to be appointed by the State legislatures and would have six-year terms. Whereas the members of The House of Representatives are elected by the public vote and have two-year terms. The process of determining the correct population, in order

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