Exam 2: The Constitution of the United States: a New Vision of Representative Government

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Many of the same issues that concerned the larger and smaller states as they addressed the issue of revising the Articles of Confederation shone through during the Constitutional Convention. Among these were the question of how much power would be given to states and how much would be given to the new federal government. In addition, those who opposed the Constitution desired that it include a Bill of Rights and specific protections that would ensure the sovereignty of the states. The issue of representation was addressed through three specific proposals. The first, called the Virginia Plan, called for a strong central government, weak state sovereignty, and a bicameral legislature based purely on proportional population. Smaller states and southern states questioned this proposal and countered with the New Jersey Plan, which called for weaker national government, stronger state government, and the same unicameral system that was used under the Articles of Confederation. As a compromise, the Connecticut Plan, or Great Compromise, was offered, which called for a federal system of balanced power between states and the national government as well as a representative system that was proportionally based in the lower house (the House of Representatives) and equally representative in the upper house (the Senate). Other compromises surrounding the issue of slavery were also necessary. As a way of keeping the southern states on board with the new Constitution, a "logrolling," or trading of votes, occurred that resulted in a 20-year moratorium on the regulation of slavery, the counting of slaves as three-fifths of a person for representative purposes, and the return of slaves from free states to the slave states from which they originated. In return, those who supported strong national government were able to include provisions concerning the regulation of interstate trade and a supremacy clause that made the Constitution the highest law in the land. Even with these compromises and debates, it took great effort and persuasion to arrive at the Constitution we have today.