The Constitutional Convention: Issues & Compromises

The Constitutional Convention

Issues & Compromises

Quick Recap

• state delegates met in May 1787 at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Penn.

• Washington chosen to lead the meeting

• Mission was to revise the Articles of Confederation

Issues & Compromises

Open Ended

What does it mean to compromise?

Issues & Compromises

• The Constitutional Convention had a lot of important issues to resolve

• Different states had different ideas of how the government should be organized, so compromises had to be made

Compromises Include:

• congressional representation

• the continued institution of slavery

• the extent of democratic participation

• the power of the central government versus the states

• the adoption of the Bill of Rights

Multiple Choice

True or False: The states agreed on how to organize the government.

• True

• False

The Great Compromise

• One of biggest disagreements in the Constitutional Convention was about how states should be represented in Congress

• Large, highly populated states favored the Virginia Plan, which proposed that a state’s population determine its representation in the new government.

The Great Compromise

• Small, less populated states were not in favor of the Virginia Plan. They preferred the New Jersey Plan

• The New Jersey Plan proposed that each state have equal representation, regardless of population.

Multiple Choice

Which plan of representation called for representation based on population?

• New Jersey Plan

• Virginia Plan

Multiple Choice

Which plan of representation called for equal representation, regardless of population

• New Jersey Plan

• Virginia Plan

The Great Compromise

• To solve the representation issue, the delegates adopted the Great Compromise, which called for: 

• a bicameral (two house) legislature

• equal representation for states in the upper house (the Senate)

• representation based on a state’s population in the lower house (House of Representatives)

Open Ended

What problem did the Great Compromise solve?

Open Ended

What solution was created by the Great Compromise?