The Constitutional Convention was created in 1787 to replace the articles of Confederation with a national constitution for all states. This compromise has been in place for more than 200 years. But critics say the Senate is undemocratic because it gives each state two senators regardless of population. Political writer Timothy Noah points out that “50 senators representing the 25 smallest states, or only 16 percent of the population. . . . a law that is favoured by the 84% of the population. Differences in views on representation threatened to derail ratification of the U.S. Constitution, with delegates on both sides pledging to reject the document if they did not get away with it. The solution took the form of a compromise proposed by statesmen Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut.
The Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia to review the articles of Confederation. The Virginia delegation took the initiative to organize the debate by immediately developing and presenting a proposal for which Delegate James Madison is the principal obligatory. But it was Edmund Randolph, then governor of Virginia, who formally introduced it to the Convention on May 29, 1787 in the form of 15 resolutions. Gary L. Gregg II, a political scientist at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, argues in a 2012 Politico article that major metropolitan areas already hold power by hosting major media centers, donors, academics and governments. The structure of the Senate and the corresponding representation in the Electoral College, he says, ensure that the interests of rural and urban America are preserved. Fewer populous countries like Delaware feared that such regulation would scuttle their voices and interests by larger states. Many delegates also felt that the Convention did not have the power to abolish the articles of Confederation completely[1], as envisaged in the Virginia Plan. [2] In response, William Paterson of the New Jersey delegation proposed on 15 June 1787 a single-house legislative power. Each state should be represented on an equal footing in this body, regardless of population. The New Jersey plan, as it was called, would have left the Confederal articles in place, but changed them to expand the powers of Congress a little.
[3] Roger Sherman, a delegate from Connecticut, proposed legislative legislation with two parties; States would have equal representation in the Senate and the population of states would determine representation in the House of Representatives. The result was a bicameral legislative branch that gave the same representation to each state in the Senate and the same representation to the population in the House of Representatives. Smaller states feared being ignored if representation was based on population, while larger states felt that their larger populations deserved more votes. Under the bicameral system, each party would be represented in a balance of power. Each state would be represented in the Senate with two delegates, while representation in the House of Representatives would be based on population. Delegates eventually accepted this “great compromise,” also known as the Connecticut Compromise. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson did not participate in the Constitutional Convention because they served as American ministers abroad during the constitutional debates. Neither saw any major shortcomings in the new Constitution. However, Jefferson felt that the legislative power would be too narrow and feared that the manner in which the president would be elected would weaken the position. Jefferson claimed that the president of the United States “seems to be a bad expense of a Polish king, a reference to the custom in 18th century Poland to choose kings who undermine royal authority. Opponents of slavery have raised questions of morality.
