Compromises That Shaped The Constitution

The drafting of the United States Constitution in 1787 was a complex process that involved several compromises. One notable example is the Great Compromise, which established equal representation in the Senate and proportional representation in the House of Representatives, addressing the concerns of both large and small states. Another compromise was the Three-Fifths Compromise, which counted three-fifths of enslaved people in each state towards congressional representation, impacting the number of congressional seats, particularly in the South. However, one agreement that was not part of the Constitutional Convention was the Compromise of 1850, which included the Fugitive Slave Act and the admission of California as a free state. This separate set of agreements aimed to defuse tensions between slave and free states.

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The Great Compromise

When delegates from small states objected to this idea, delegates from the larger states argued that their states contributed more of the nation’s financial and defensive resources than small states and therefore ought to have a greater say in the central government. The small-state delegates continued to protest proportional representation in the Senate, threatening to unravel the proceedings. However, the Great Compromise allayed the fears of both the large and small states by dividing the legislature into different branches, with one House viewed as representing the people and the other the states.

Connecticut Compromise

The Connecticut Compromise, also known as the Great Compromise of 1787 or the Sherman Compromise, was an agreement reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787. It defined the legislative structure and representation each state would have under the United States Constitution.

The Compromise was proposed by Connecticut delegates Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth, and it retained the bicameral legislature, with a dual system of representation. The upper house, or Senate, would have equal representation from each state, with each state having two members. The lower house, or House of Representatives, would have proportional representation based on a state's population, with each state having one representative for every 40,000 inhabitants, including three-fifths of each state's enslaved population.

The Compromise was designed to resolve the dispute between small and large states over representation in the federal government. Delegates from small states objected to the Virginia Plan, which proposed proportional representation in both houses, arguing that each state should have equal representation in Congress. Delegates from larger states, on the other hand, argued that their greater contribution to the nation's resources meant they should have more say in the central government. The Connecticut Compromise thus provided a solution that satisfied both sides.

The Connecticut Compromise also addressed the issue of revenue and spending bills, with the provision that they would originate in the lower house and not be subject to amendment by the upper chamber. This was a significant aspect of the compromise, as it addressed the concerns of small-state delegates, who wanted to ensure they had a say in financial matters.

Three-Fifths Compromise

The Three-Fifths Compromise was an agreement reached during the 1787 United States Constitutional Convention. It concerned the inclusion of slaves in counting a state's total population, which 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 slaveholding states wanted their entire population to be counted to determine the number of Representatives they could send to Congress. In contrast, the free states wanted to exclude the counting of slave populations in slave states, as those slaves had no voting rights. This disagreement threatened to derail the convention, with Southern delegates threatening to abandon the convention if enslaved individuals were not counted.

The Three-Fifths Compromise was a resolution to this dispute. It stated that three-fifths of each state's slave population would be counted towards that state's total population for the purpose of apportioning the House of Representatives. This gave the Southern states more power in the House relative to the North and resulted in those states being overrepresented in national politics. However, the same three-fifths ratio was used to determine the federal tax contribution required of each state, increasing the direct federal tax burden of slaveholding states.

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.

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Bicameral Compromise

The "Great Compromise" or the "Connecticut Compromise" of 1787 was an agreement reached during the Constitutional Convention that defined the legislative structure and representation each state would have under the United States Constitution. It retained the bicameral legislature, or a legislature consisting of two houses, as proposed by Roger Sherman, along with proportional representation of the states in the lower house or House of Representatives, and it required the upper house or Senate to be weighted equally among the states.

The delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia established equal representation in the Senate and proportional representation in the House of Representatives. The Virginia Plan, drafted by James Madison and introduced to the Convention by Edmund Randolph, proposed the creation of a bicameral national legislature, or a legislature consisting of two houses, in which the “rights of suffrage” in both houses would be proportional to the size of the state. When delegates from small states objected to this idea, delegates from the larger states argued that their states contributed more of the nation’s financial and defensive resources than small states and therefore ought to have a greater say in the central government.

The small-state delegates continued to protest proportional representation in the Senate, threatening to unravel the proceedings. When another vote on equal representation in the Senate resulted in a tie on July 2, the small shift opened the possibility for compromise. The Convention appointed a “Grand Committee” to reach a final resolution on the question. The committee reported the original Sherman compromise proposal with the added provision, suggested by Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, that revenue and spending bills would only originate in the House. Madison and others continued to press their case for proportional representation in the Senate and to oppose a House monopoly on revenue bills, while some small-state delegates were reluctant even to support proportional representation in the House.

The Great Compromise was amended to allow that state inhabitants would also include three-fifths of the slaves in the state. In 1913, the states ratified the Seventeenth Amendment, which requires members of the Senate to be elected by the people. After significant debate, the Convention adopted the Great Compromise on July 16, 1787. During the state ratification debates that followed the Convention, one of the central objections from the Anti-Federalists was that the consolidation of government power in a national Congress could destroy state legislative power.

Compromise of 1850

The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850. It was designed by Whig senator Henry Clay and Democratic senator Stephen A. Douglas, with the support of President Millard Fillmore. The Compromise of 1850 temporarily defused tensions between slave and free states during the years leading up to the American Civil War.

The Compromise of 1850 addressed three major types of issues: boundary issues, the status of territories, and the issue of slavery. The first of the five bills created a new, stricter Fugitive Slave Law. This law required federal officials in all states, including those that prohibited slavery, to help return escaped slaves to their owners. Additionally, anyone aiding an enslaved person in escaping from bondage was subject to imprisonment and a fine.

The second law ended the slave trade in Washington, D.C. (D.C.). Slavery remained legal in D.C., but the public trading areas near the Executive Mansion (the White House) and Congress were abolished, which embarrassed many Northerners. The third law admitted California to the Union as a free state. The fourth law officially created the New Mexico and Utah territories and gave them popular sovereignty to decide on the issue of slavery.

The fifth law changed Texas's borders and had the U.S. government assume the state's debt. Texas surrendered its claims to present-day New Mexico and other states in return for the federal assumption of its public debt. The Compromise of 1850 played a significant role in postponing the Civil War, but it may have only delayed the inevitable.

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