StellarCreating a Constitution
One of the main thorns in the discussion of the Constitution was the structure of the legislature. The larger states proposed the Virginia Plan, with a sole legislative branch with control over the states that involved proportional representation, which benefited large states at the expense of smaller states. In response, the smaller states proposed the New Jersey plan where each state got an equal vote and had the executive and judicial branches, which benefited small states at the expense of the large states. In the Great Compromise, a bicameral legislature was created with a proportionally represented House of Representatives and an equally represented Senate, as well as creating an executive branch and a judicial branch, which was based on Locke’s ideas of Checks and Balances, as well as Federalism, where power was divided between the federal government and the states. The Constitution also gave the government the power to collect taxes and the ability to regulate interstate and foreign commerce. Another compromise that had to be made to appease the South was that for more representation for Southerners, they wanted slaves to be counted, and the Three-fifths Compromise made it so that for representation each slave counted as three-fifths of a person. Additionally, they included a Fugitive Slave clause as well as delaying the question of the importation of slaves until 1808.