Compromises Shaping The Us Constitution

The United States Constitution was created through a series of compromises among the delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. The delegates, representing 12 of the 13 original states, met in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation, which had been the governing document of the United States since the American Revolution. The delegates disagreed on several key issues, including representation, state versus federal powers, executive power, slavery, and commerce. These disagreements led to several significant compromises, including the Great Compromise, the Three-Fifths Compromise, and the Electoral College Compromise.

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The Great Compromise: Bicameral legislature with proportional representation in the House and equal representation in the Senate

The Great Compromise, also known as the Connecticut Compromise, was one of the most significant agreements made during the Constitutional Convention. It addressed the contentious issue of representation in Congress, reconciling the conflicting interests of large and small states.

The large states, such as Virginia, advocated for representation based on population, arguing that this would give them a greater number of representatives in Congress. On the other hand, small states like New Jersey insisted on equal representation for each state, regardless of population size.

The Great Compromise struck a balance between these opposing views by establishing a bicameral legislature. This meant creating two houses within Congress: the House of Representatives and the Senate. In the House of Representatives, or the lower house, representation would be proportional to the population of each state. This chamber favoured the larger states, as it gave them greater influence in line with their size. Conversely, the Senate, or the upper house, provided equal representation for all states, ensuring that the interests of smaller states were not overshadowed.

The Great Compromise was a pivotal agreement that helped lay the foundation for the United States federal government. It demonstrated the delegates' ability to negotiate and find common ground, despite their differing perspectives. This compromise, along with others made during the Constitutional Convention, contributed to the creation of a governing document that has endured for centuries.

Three-Fifths Compromise: Counting slaves as three-fifths of a person for congressional representation

The Three-Fifths Compromise was an agreement reached during the 1787 United States Constitutional Convention. The compromise was regarding the inclusion of slaves in counting a state's total population. This count would determine the number of seats in the House of Representatives, the number of electoral votes each state would be allocated, and how much money the states would pay in taxes.

The Southern slaveholding states wanted their entire population to be counted to determine the number of Representatives they could elect and send to Congress. On the other hand, the Free states in the North wanted to exclude the counting of slave populations in slave states, since those slaves had no voting rights. The Southern delegates threatened to abandon the convention if enslaved individuals were not counted. Eventually, the framers agreed on a compromise that called for representation in the House of Representatives to be apportioned based on a state's free population plus three-fifths of its enslaved population. This agreement came to be known as the Three-Fifths Compromise.

The compromise counted three-fifths of each state's slave population toward that state's total population for the purpose of apportioning the House of Representatives, effectively giving the Southern states more power in the House relative to the North. It also gave slaveholders enlarged powers in Southern legislatures. This was an issue in the secession of West Virginia from Virginia in 1863. The Three-Fifths Compromise also tied the ratio of representation to taxation, so the burden of taxation on the slave states was reduced.

The Three-Fifths Compromise was part of Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution. In 1868, Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment superseded this clause and explicitly repealed the compromise. It provided that "representatives shall be apportioned... counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed."

Commerce Compromise: Tariffs on imports but not exports, balancing North and South interests

The Commerce Compromise was a crucial agreement reached during the Constitutional Convention that aimed to ease tensions between Southern and Northern states regarding trade and taxation. The North, with its industrialized economy, produced many finished goods and wanted the government to impose import tariffs on these products to protect against foreign competition and encourage the South to buy goods made in the North. They also wanted export tariffs on raw goods to increase revenue for the United States.

However, the Southern states, with their agricultural economy, relied heavily on importing finished goods from Britain. They were concerned about potential taxes on their export crops, such as cotton, tobacco, and rice. They argued that heavy export taxes would harm their economic interests and trade that they heavily depended on.

To resolve these disputes, the Commerce Compromise included two key provisions. Firstly, Congress was prohibited from taxing exported goods, ensuring that Southern states would not face additional financial burdens on their main cash crops. This provision addressed the South's fear of export taxes and protected their economic interests.

Secondly, Congress was granted the power to regulate interstate commerce and impose tariffs only on imported goods. This allowed the federal government to control trade and impose tariffs on imports to protect domestic industries without directly affecting the Southern states' export revenues.

This compromise effectively balanced the interests of both the Northern and Southern states. The North could protect its industries with import tariffs, while the South could trade its goods without the risk of export taxes. Additionally, the federal government gained the authority to regulate interstate commerce, and all commerce legislation had to be passed by a two-thirds majority in the Senate, giving the South more power to counter the more populous Northern states.

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Electoral College Compromise: Electors chosen by each state elect the president

The Founding Fathers established the Electoral College as a compromise between electing the president by a vote in Congress and electing the president by a popular vote of qualified citizens. The Electoral College is a process that consists of the selection of electors, the meeting of the electors where they vote for President and Vice President, and the counting of the electoral votes by Congress.

The Electoral College was also established as a compromise between delegates who thought Congress should select the president and those who favoured a direct nationwide popular vote. State legislatures were entrusted with appointing electors. Each state has the same number of electors as it does Members in its Congressional delegation: one for each Member in the House of Representatives plus two Senators.

The term "electoral college" does not appear in the Constitution. However, Article II of the Constitution and the 12th Amendment refer to "electors". The Constitution outlines the framers' plan for electing the president and vice president. Under this plan, each elector casts two votes for president; the candidate who receives the most votes becomes president, and the second-place finisher becomes vice president.

The Electoral College also applied the three-fifths compromise that had already been devised for apportioning seats in the House of Representatives. Three out of five enslaved people were counted as part of a state’s total population, though they were prohibited from voting. This gave the Southern states an advantage in presidential elections, as non-voting enslaved people made up about one-third of their population.

Over the past 200 years, more than 700 proposals have been introduced in Congress to reform or eliminate the Electoral College. The American Bar Association has criticized the Electoral College as “archaic” and “ambiguous”, and public opinion polls have shown majorities of Americans favoured abolishing it in 1967, 1968, and 1981.

Federalism: Specific responsibilities given to the federal government, with other functions delegated to the states

Federalism is a mode of government that combines a general level of government (a central or federal government) with a regional level of sub-unit governments (e.g. provinces, states, territories), dividing governing powers between the two levels.

The US Constitution establishes a system of "dual sovereignty", with the states surrendering many of their powers to the federal government but retaining some sovereignty. The Constitution contains the Supremacy Clause, which establishes federal law as "the supreme law of the land". Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution describes the specific powers of the federal government, referred to as enumerated or defined powers. These include the power to make laws on certain matters that are too difficult for states to manage. The Tenth Amendment reserves powers to the states as long as they are not delegated to the federal government. These powers are described as numerous and indefinite.

The US Constitution also provides that no state may be deprived of equal representation in the senate without its consent. The Supreme Court has invoked the Tenth Amendment to determine that Congress has exceeded its constitutional powers and infringed upon state sovereignty.

The acquisition of new powers by a federal government may occur through constitutional amendment or a broadening of the interpretation of a government's existing constitutional powers by the courts. This movement of power from states to the federal government is a common evolution of federal systems.

The US Constitution was a compromise between anti-slavery Northern delegates and Southern slaveholders. The former did not want explicit protection for slavery in the Constitution, while the latter sought to protect their existing property rights. A compromise was reached, with protections for slaveholders enshrined in the Constitution. The Three-Fifths Clause, Article I, Sect. II, Cl. 3, stated that "Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States...according to their respective Numbers...excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other Persons". This clause, along with the Electoral College, boosted the power of slaveholders over presidential selection and congressional representation.

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