Compromise

Compromises were vital in the making of the Constitution. This was because in the begging all the states tried to propose a government system that would benefit itself the most which hindered progress. Concepts that were quarreled over included population representation, slave representation, how the president should be chosen, and whether or not to ratify the Constitution.

To start it off, the Framers had trouble deciding on how the people will be represented int eh government. Would the number of representatives be according to population size, or would the number be set? More populous states wanted representation based on population, while smaller states chose the latter. Robert Sherman of Connecticut proposed a compromise which had states represented by both a Senate and House of Representatives.

In addition to population representation, the Framers debated on how the slaves would count towards the population. Virginia wanted to have slaves count as part of the population, as they had a great number of slaves. Smaller states didn't like that. In the end, they decided on the Three-Fifth compromise. It stated that three fifths of the total slave population in a state would be added towards the state population.

Another thing that was argued on was how to decide on how the President would be elected. They didn't want direct election, because the people would just vote for the state's representative. If Congress decided on the issue, the people would loose the power to vote. The result was the Electoral College. This compromise had the people vote for a president. Each state has electors (number equal to the sum of the number of senators and representatives) that would then vote for a president according to results of the citizen's voting.

Lastly, when the constitution was formed, another compromise had to be made between the people and the government, called the Bill of Rights or the first 10 amendments. The Constitution said nothing about the basic rights of the people, and they demanded that for them to be able to ratify the newly made Constitution, they needed something that stated all their rights. Thus, the 10 Bill of Rights was made.

In conclusion, the constitution would not be here today if it wasn't for compromises. The compromises helped keep the new government from falling apart. Whether it be population representation, counting of slaves, electing a new president, or whether or not to ratify the Constitution, the Framers had to mix together ideas to keep the progress going in able to form the new government of the United States.