The Great Compromise

Examples of The Great Compromise in the following topics:

• Amending the Constitution

  • To protect the Constitution from hasty alteration, the framers of the Constitution wrote Article V.
  • However, the Framers of the Constitution worried that too many changes would harm the democratic process.
  • The amendment process originally came with restrictions protecting some agreements that the Great Compromise had settled during the Constitutional Convention.
  • The Great Compromise (also called the Connecticut Compromise) was an agreement that large and small states reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
  • It called for a bicameral legislature along with proportional representation in the lower house, but required the upper house to be weighted equally between the states.This agreement led to the Three-Fifths Compromise, which meant less populous Southern states were allowed to count three-fifths of all non-free people toward population counts and allocations.

• "A More Perfect Union"

  • While some compromises made at the convention would strengthen the new republic, other compromises would eventually tear the country apart.
  • Delegates eventually adopted the Connecticut Compromise (or the Great Compromise) which blended the Virginia (large-state) and New Jersey (small-state) proposals.
  • After adopting the Great Compromise, delegates moved on to tackle the most controversial issue threatening the Union: slavery.
  • Finally, delegates agreed on the Three-Fifths Compromise, which was able to temporarily keep the young nation together.
  • Identify the compromises Convention delegates made in order to create a More Perfect Union

• Federalists and Antifederalists

  • The conflict threatened to end the Convention, but Roger Sherman of Connecticut proposed the "Great Compromise" (or Connecticut Compromise) under which one house of Congress would be based on proportional representation, and the other house would be based on equal representation.
  • Eventually, the Compromise was accepted, and the Convention was saved.
  • Compromises were important in settling other disputes at the Convention.
  • The Three-Fifths Compromise designated that three-fifths of slave population would be counted toward representation in Congress.
  • In another compromise, the Congress agreed to ban slave trade after 1808.

• A New Constitution

  • Following its independence from Great Britain, the nation had been operating under the Articles of Confederation, which defined the federal government.
  • Also known as the “Great Compromise,” it allowed for both plans to work together and defined the legislative structure and representation of each state under the Constitution.
  • To further gain the support of the larger states, Benjamin Franklin made two important modifications to this compromise, which was sufficient to win approval for the overall Constitution.
  • The Three-Fifths Compromise, which assessed population by adding the number of free persons to three-fifths of the number of "all other persons" was agreed to without serious dispute.
  • Explain the purpose of the Connecticut Compromise and how compromise shaped the creation of the Constitution

• The Compromise of 1850

  • The Compromise of 1850 left the question of slave versus free states to popular sovereignty.
  • Henry Clay, the leader of the Whig Party (nicknamed the "Great Pacificator”) drafted the following five compromise measures in 1850:
  • In the Compromise of 1850, popular sovereignty was not defined as a guiding principle on the slave issue going forward.
  • During the debate over the Compromise, John C.
  • Evaluate the impact of the Compromise of 1850 on the slavery debate

• When To Vote

  • Don't think of voting as a great way to resolve debates.
  • Even when no new proposal arises, it's still usually better to broker a compromise than to hold a vote.
  • After a compromise, everyone is a little bit unhappy, whereas after a vote, some people are unhappy while others are happy.
  • If the response clearly tends toward one side or another, this will make some people suddenly more willing to compromise, obviating the need for a formal vote.
  • In certain rare cases, everyone may agree that all the compromise solutions are worse than any of the non-compromise ones.

• Final Efforts at Compromise

  • In the House, the Committee of Thirty-Three (composed of one member from each state) was formed to reach a compromise to preserve the Union.
  • The Crittenden Compromise proposed by Senator Crittenden was a final attempt by Democrats to prevent disunion through another compromise.
  • Essentially, the key proposal of the Crittenden Compromise provided for a sectional division of the territories at the old 36, 30' latitude line that would stretch to the Pacific.
  • Furthermore, Southern leaders in the middle and border states refused to agree to the compromise without full endorsement from the Republicans.
  • Crittenden's Compromise was a final attempt to prevent disunion by proposing an extension of the Missouri Compromise boundary between free and slave territories to the Pacific

• The Missouri Compromise

  • The Missouri Compromise of 1820 concerned the regulation of slavery in the western territories.
  • The Missouri Compromise was an agreement passed in 1820 between the pro-slavery and antislavery factions in the U.S.
  • Prior to the agreement, the House of Representatives had refused to accept this compromise and a conference committee was appointed.
  • Congress finally came to an agreement called the "Missouri Compromise" in 1820.
  • The debate leading up to the Compromise raised the issue of sectional balance.

• The Dred Scott Decision

  • In 1836, Scott was again moved to the Wisconsin territory, an area where slavery was "forever prohibited" under the Missouri Compromise.
  • In 1857, when the Supreme Court heard Dred Scott’s case, it was faced with several controversial questions that were of great significance to an increasingly polarized country.
  • With proslavery and antislavery supporters pushing for a resolution to sectional conflict over the issue, the Court used its authority in the Dred Scott case more to render a final ruling on the Missouri Compromise rather than to decide the fate of a single man.
  • The decision effectively overturned all of the political compromises negotiated between Northern and Southern congressional representatives over the past 30 years in a significant victory for proslavery factions.
  • This marked only the second time the Supreme Court had found an act of Congress, in this case the Missouri Compromise, to be unconstitutional.

• The Constitutional Convention

  • The convention was held to address problems in governing the United States, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from Great Britain.
  • The result of the convention was the United States Constitution, placing the convention among the most significant events in the history of the United States .
  • To resolve this stalemate, the Connecticut Compromise, forged by Roger Sherman from Connecticut, was proposed on June 11.
  • This committee helped work out a compromise: In exchange for this concession, the federal government's power to regulate foreign commerce would be strengthened by provisions that allowed for taxation of slave trades in the international market and that reduced the requirement for passage of navigation acts from two-thirds majorities of both houses of Congress to simple majority.
  • The Three-Fifths Compromise was a compromise between Southern and Northern states reached during the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 in which three-fifths of the enumerated population of slaves would be counted for representation purposes regarding both the distribution of taxes and the apportionment of the members of the United States House of Representatives.