While drafting the Constitution, the greatest conflict was over representation in the Legislative branch. Large states such as Virginia, new York and Massachusetts desired one based on population. Small states such as Rhode Island, and New Jersey wanted an equal amount of reps from each state. Small states thought large states would dominate with a large number of reps, while large states said democracy demanded equal representation for each person.

In the end, a bicameral plan was adopted. The House of Representatives was based on population. The Senate had equal for each state. The conflict between large and small states never materialized, either because of the quality of the plan or because of lack of conflict between the goals of the states.

The agreement reached by the Philadelphia Convention that Congress would consist of two houses, The Senate with equal representation for each state, and the House of Representatives, where representation was based on population.

This plan was a compromise between the Virginia Plan proposed by Edward Randolph of Virginia, which called for a three branch system of government with representation based on population or wealth (guess who was number 1 in both at the time), and the New Jersey Plan which called for a one branch government with equal representation for each state. The New Jersey plan was basically an extension of the system under the Articles of Confederation, where the Continental Congress was the Federal Government.

Other famous compromises in the writing of the Constitution are the three-fifths compromise and the Bill of Rights (some people wanted the rights of the people protected more strongly in the Constitution itself, but they were persuaded to ratify it with the promise that it would be amended later. {this may have been the first recorded instance of a politician keeping their promise)

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