The Great Compromise

The Great Compromise

1. Bicameral Legislature

   • Senate
     • Equal Representation
       • To satisfy the small states, who did not want to join the country if they were guaranteed to always be outvoted, every state gets 2 seats in the Senate.
     • 6 Year Terms
       • Further proof that these were intended to be very powerful positions. This is longer even than the term for the President.
     • Originally Elected by State Legislatures
       • The framers of the Constitution worried about an "excess of democracy." Without widespread education they did not trust the people to directly elect what they saw as very important/powerful positions, like members of the Senate.  This was changed by the 17th Amendment, and now the voters of a state directly elect their two Senators.
   • House of Representatives
     • Proportional Represenation
       • States are proportion of the total seats in the House of Representatives based on the proportion of the total population of the U.S. that is their state. So states with more people get more votes. For example, New York has 27 seats, while Vermont has 1.
     • 2 Year Terms
       • This is the shortest term of any elected federal office.
     • Directly Elected
       • States are divided into Congressional Districts, each one having roughly the same population. Voters in each elect one representative for their district.