Question

It has been said that if the delegates to the Constitutional Convention had been unable to compromise, the Constitution might never have been completed. The country would be very different if this was the case. Describe an important situation in which you had to make a compromise. Why did you decide to make the compromise? How did it solve the problem?

Answer 1

The compromise on representation raised another issue: Would enslaved people be included in the population counts that would be used as the basis for representation? All states had enslaved people, but most southern states had far more. These states wanted the enslaved to be included in the counts, but northern states objected. They thought that including the enslaved would give the southern states an unfair advantage. The two sides finally agreed to compromise. Three-fifths of each state’s enslaved people would be included in the population counts.

Growing numbers of people in northern states opposed slavery. They felt that it went against the country’s ideal of liberty. This worried people in the southern states. The economies of these states depended on enslaved labor. Southern delegates demanded and won another compromise: Congress would not have the power to ban the slave trade until 1808.

In late July, the delegates ended two months of debate and compromise. They appointed a committee to write a draft of the Constitution. Once the draft was completed, there were five more weeks of debate. Then a different committee set about writing a final version of the document. It was completed in mid-September.

Not all delegates were satisfied with the final version. Some argued that it should include a bill of rights—a declaration of the rights of individual citizens. Many other delegates, however, felt that such a bill was not needed. Without strong support, the idea was dropped.

Finally, on September 17, the delegates voted to approve the new Constitution. The Constitutional Convention thus came to an end. The new Constitution was not yet the law of the land, though. At least nine of the thirteen states would have to ratify it. That would prove to be a long, hard battle.