History Compromises

Compromises of a New Nation

Political compromise is an essential part of a democratic system of government . In the early years of the United States , political leaders struggled with many profound issues . The compromises they arrived at for better or worse , shaped the young nation

The Grand and Connecticut Compromises

After the Revolutionary War was over , the American leaders were faced with the daunting challenge of forming a new government . The city of Philadelphia hosted a convention for the purpose of creating a new constitution . A primary concern of the delegates

was the issue of representation . How would the rights of individual states be balanced against federal power

Federalists believed that a dominant central government was necessary for the survival of the nation . Anti-federalists , fearing tyranny wanted power reserved to the states . The states often had disparate interests . Each state demanded equal representation in the new government

A compromise proposal was put forward by the delegates from Connecticut and it was narrowly approved . This compromise helped form the House of Representatives and the Senate . The House delegates would be elected by popular vote . Senators would , at first , be appointed by state legislatures

This extremely important compromise preserved the power of the states within the larger government . The compromise was brilliant , but not comprehensive . Initially , voting for the House was limited only to white men who paid taxes . Still , this was an improvement on the restrictive voting policies the some states had prior to the compromise

The Grand Compromise ' also reached at the Philadelphia convention included the three-fifths provision . This meant that for the purposes of the census each slave would count as three-fifths of a person . Slave states had argued that a slave should count the same as any other person when determining how many congressional representatives a state would have

Non-slave states argued that people who were not granted the rights and freedoms of citizenship should not be counted in the census . The result of doing this would be that slave states would have more power in the government merely because of the fact that they kept slaves . The resulting compromise was odious , but necessary , for a young nation not yet willing or able to deal with the injustice of slavery

The Connecticut and Grand compromises paved the way to several other compromises at the convention . The Electoral College was created , and the federal census was instituted . This series of compromises created the institutions that were strong enough to hold the nation together yet flexible enough to change over time . This has allowed , over the centuries since , for greater inclusion and the maintenance of individual rights

The First Presidency

George Washington played a central role in the early years of the new nation . His contribution can not be overstated . The wildly popular general was elected the first president of the United States . He attended the Constitutional Convention , and presided over the compromises made there

It was not long before the new president was embroiled in political disputes . Members of...