The Constitution - an Unhappy Medium

The Constitution: An Unhappy Medium

On March 4, 1789, the United States government started operating under its newly ratified Constitution. Seen by many as a joyous departure from the flawed Articles of Confederation, this date in history is generally considered a positive milestone in American history. However, would the general population during that time period have agreed with this designation? Due to the circumstances under which the Constitution was written, many compromises were made, and many politicians' feathers were ruffled. Therefore, the most logical argument would be that the American population of 1789 was anything but content with the final product of the Constitutional Convention.

One of the most famous compromises embedded into the Constitution is that of the legislative branch of its government. The Connecticut Compromise, also commonly known as the Great Compromise, took the opposing Virginia and New Jersey plans, and molded them into what would be the United States Congress. With an approximate population of 747,000 , by far the largest of any state during this time period, Virginia, naturally, was promoting a system of representation corresponding to each state's population. Under this system, Virginia would have almost double the number of delegates from Pennsylvania, the second most populous state . Also looking out for their state's best interest were the members of the convention from New Jersey. Having less than a quarter of the population of Virginia , a system in which each state would be represented equally would benefit the people of New Jersey, giving them a higher delegates per capita ratio than the large southern states. Fittingly, a state with an average population, after much bickering between the large and small states, introduced a compromise plan, in which both systems would be used. By a vote of five states to four , the compromise was adopted on July 16, 1787. The difference of a single vote confirms that the decision was not unanimous, and the politicians of almost half the states still did not approve of the new legislation system. Some may cite the fact that the compromise did in fact end the quarreling between large and small states on this issue. Theoretically, this would have ended any verbal disputes on the subject, allowing the convention to proceed on to other topics.