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Continental Convention Dbq

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There were a plethora of decisions during the Continental Convention of 1787 which helped construct the United States of America that we have today. The participant who had the greatest impact on the convention other than James Madison, is a delegate called Roger Sherman. He was a very influential person who had many accomplishments, among these were: being a well-respected politician, a lawyer who earned his degree from Yale University, a Connecticut senator, a Newton County surveyor, an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court, and a member of the Continental Congress. All of these things, would help shape the man who would forever change the United States of America. According to Thomas Kindig in the article, Signers of the Declaration …show more content…

On the other hand, delegates from less populous states favored the New Jersey Plan which declared that all states would have an equal amount of votes. This idea goes back to the Articles of Confederation giving each state one vote. Both ideas were strongly reinforced by their respective sides, but they needed to be combined together in a way that would satisfy both large and small states. With a final decision of five to four, the states passed the Great Compromise and it was officially adopted in July 16, 1781. The Great Compromise proposed that the United States would have a bi-cameral legislature instead of an unicameral legislature. There would be two houses: an upper house known as The Senate, and a lower house as The House of Representatives. There would be two senators per state, which favored the equality that small states were longing for. The number of House of Representatives per state would depend on how populous the state was according to the decennial census, giving citizens in large states equal power to citizens of small states. Senators were to be appointed by the State legislatures and would have six-year terms. Whereas the members of The House of Representatives are elected by the public vote and have two-year terms. The process of determining the correct population, in order

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