Many economic and political problems that arose from the lack of centralized government motivated the prominent political and social thinkers to unite once again since the Declaration of Independence ratification. This time their aim was the development of the Constitution which is “the world’s longest surviving written charter of government” nowadays (United States Senate, n.d., para. 1). However, to achieve that ‘Founding Fathers’ had to spend numerous hours debating over the provisions that should be included in the document.
The biggest question, among others, included a discussion concerning the distribution of seats in Congress among the representatives from various states. On the one hand, participants from more populated states argued that the places in Congress should be divided proportionally to the number of people in each federation – the so-called Virginia plan.
On the other hand, the representatives from the smaller states longed for equal seat allocation among all the provinces, which is known as the Jersey plan. Indeed, the proportional distribution was unfavorable for the latter as they would be underrepresented and, thus, have less impact on the nationwide decision-making process. On the contrary, the equal number of representatives would lead to less populated states having disproportionally more powers (Onion, 2019). Therefore, the necessity for a compromise between the two parties became evident.
The agreement that the ‘Founding Fathers eventually reached is known as the Great Compromise. As a result of it, the ingenious and revolutionary concept of power separation appeared. Firstly, it was offered that Congress should consist of two chambers that would counterbalance each other. The House of Representatives – the lower chamber – should be elected through the nationwide popular vote, whereas the Senate – the upper chamber – should be elected by the state legislature. Such a decision could successfully satisfy the needs of more densely populated states as well as less populated and effectively balance the powers between various federations.
Additionally, the same principle was also applied to the election of the head of the executive branch. As such, it was decided that the population would vote for electors (Electoral College) who, in turn, would choose the president and vice president. It ensured once again the equal distribution of power between more and less populated states. Moreover, the Constitutional Convention sought to balance the power between the aforementioned branches of power. As a consequence, it was decided that the president could veto the new laws while Congress could impeach a president.
References
Onion, A. (2019). How the Great Compromise and the Electoral College affects politics today. History. Web.
United States Senate. (n.d.). Constitution of the United States. Web.