Constitutional Compromises

Four Major Agreements That Helped Create the New Government

Problem: How to Give Representation in Congress

• Large states wanted representation to be based on population so they would have more power…As in the Virginia Plan.

• Small states wanted each to be represented by statehood, so they wouldn’t be overshadowed…As in the New Jersey Plan.

Solution: The Great Compromise• Roger Sherman of Connecticut

suggested the nation use both ideas in a bicameral legislature.

• Madison’s Virginia Plan would be used to make a lower House of Representatives based on population and Paterson’s New Jersey Plan would be used in the Senate to give each state two votes.

• New laws would have to go through both houses.

Problem: Whether or Not Slaves Should Be Counted for

Representation in Congress • Southern states wanted

slaves counted to get more representation and power.

• Free states in the north disagreed because slaves were not citizens and could not vote.

Solution: The 3/5 Compromise• Slaves would be counted at a

rate of three-fifths, or 60%.• This number was to be used

in population totals for representation in Congress and for taxation.

• Southern states would have more representation, but would have to pay more taxes to get that power.

Problem: The Issue of Allowing Slave Trade to Continue

• Southern slave states wanted to continue to import slaves from Africa.

• The free states of the north disagreed, partly because southern power in Congress could continue to grow.

Solution: The Slave Trade Compromise

• Slave trade was allowed to continue for another 20 years, until 1808, when the issue would be re-examined.

• Also, all runaway slaves must be returned to legal owners.

• This decision favored southern slave owners like Madison, Washington, and Jefferson, but not forever.

Problem: Ratifying the Constitution• The Constitution was written and

approved by delegates in 1787, but states still had to accept or ratify it.

• Anti-Federalists feared a strong central government and thought that the Constitution did not adequately protect individual rights and freedoms.

• Federalists gave in and promised to guarantee these rights because some states were unwilling to accept the new government until personal liberty was secured.

James Madison: Writer of Virginia Plan, Bill of Rights, and Federalist Papers.

Solution: The Promise of a Bill of Rights

• Ten Amendments written by James Madison in 1789 to satisfy Anti-Federalists.

• Guaranteed basic rights to all Americans, such as speech, religion, and jury trials.

• In 1791, the Bill of Rights was ratified, even though the rest of the Constitution had been in use under President Washington since 1789.