Constitution
Late
in May 1787, George Washington
welcomed delegates from twelve of the thirteen
states to the Constitutional
Convention. The fifty-five men in attendance
expected to consider significant
changes in their national government. In turn
the Constitution as ratified
was a bundle of political compromises that solved
the differences among those
delegates. The first and foremost the issue at hand
was what kind of
government was best for a republic? A plan was submitted by the
Virginia
delegation that had a guiding spirit belonging to James Madsion.
The
Virginia Plan called for a government with three distinct branches:
legislative,
executive, and judicial. By dividing this power, it was intended
to ensure that
no group or individual could have too much authority. Also by
allowing each
branch of government some means to check the other branches, it
was intended to
protect the interests of citizens. Although the delegates
supported the
principles of the Virginia Plan, they were in disagreement over
many other
issues. The greatest controversy centered on representation in the
legislative
branch. The Virginia Plan proposed that membership representation
in each house
would be based on population. Small states objected saying that
it would leave
them helpless in a government dominated by large states. In
turn they supported
the New Jersey Plan, which gave all states an equal
representation regardless of
the population. Roger Sermen of Connecticut,
with the help of Ben Franklin
introduced the Great Compromise. It set up a
bicameral legislature, where
representation in the House of Representatives
was based on population and in
the Senate each state was guaranteed a fixed
two representatives. The issue of
representation continued into the issue of
who would be counted as a state’s
population. Southern delegates argued that
slaves should be counted for the
purposes of representation but not for the
purposes of taxation. Northern
delegates argued that slaves should be counted
when determining the state’s
share of taxes and not counted in representation
because they were consider
property. The Three-fifths Compromise settled the
issue. It stated that
three-fifths of the all the other persons population
will be included in a
state’s count and that. It would count for both
taxation and representation in
the House of Representatives. The fourth issue
that arose was who would control
interstate trade? The solution was plain and
simple, the federal government
would control interstate commerce and
imports/exports from foreign counties. The
states, in turn, would be in
control of intrastate commerce The final issue was
how the president would be
chosen. In this case two issues were presented,
Jefferson believed that
the people should vote to determine the president. On
the other hand,
Hamilton felt that the people are not capable enough to decide.
The
solution combined both the ideas of Hamilton and Jefferson. It allowed
the
president to be elected indirectly through the Electoral College. Through
the
Electoral College, the electors are chosen by the states who vote
for
presidential candidates. Each state was entitled to as many electors as
it had
senators and representatives in Congress. The electors then voted for
whoever
got the majority of votes from the state voters. The Webster’s
dictionary
defines the term compromise as "a settling of differences." At
the
Constitutional Convention, the delegates of the states were faced
with many
disputes and solved them by the giving and taking of practical
compromise. It
can be concluded that the Constitution is a bundle of
political compromises with
examples such as the "The Great Compromise" and
the "Three-fifths
Compromise." As a result the outcome was a new plan for
a national government,
which won unanimous support from the delegates.