Civil Government And Politics The Constitution - 1880 Words

Compromises in the Constitution Cara Farley AP American Government and Politics - Period 4 October 12, 2015 To begin, the most argued over topic while drafting the Constitution was the setup of the legislative branch. This body of government is responsible for handling the imperative task of creating laws. Under the Articles of Confederation, a legislative branch was established, consisting of a single house, with each state having two to seven representatives. Regardless of the state population or amount of representatives they had, each state would receive one vote. The Congress has the authority to tax the states, though they possessed no ability to forcibly collect these levies. The federal†¦show more content†¦The number of representatives each state was to be based on its population, which gave more populated states more of say in government. This plan gave more power to the federal government, a factor the large states also supported. However, William Patterson countered with the New Jersey plan, which was backed by the smaller states. Similar to the Congress under the Art icles of Confederation, he proposed that Congress should consist of a unicameral house, and all the states should receive equal representation regardless of population. This single house would be elected by the state legislature, and while it did give the national government more power than it had previously, it still maintained equal representation of the states. After much deliberation, Roger Sherman proposed a solution which would become known as the Great Compromise, or the Connecticut Compromise. This resolution created a bicameral legislature with one house, the Senate receiving equal representation in each state, and another house with representation based on population, called the House of Representatives. Outlined in Article I of the Constitution, a solution that satisfied all parties was made. With this resolution also came the start of the census, which would count the population every ten years to determine each state s representation. This resolution was so important,