The Great Compromise

Explain how big and small states settled on a House based on population and a Senate with two per state.

Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.

What children learn in Level 29

The biggest fight was over votes in Congress. Under the Virginia Plan, states with more people would get more votes. Big states loved it.
Under the New Jersey Plan, every state would get one equal vote. Small states wanted that, because they feared being outvoted.
The Convention nearly broke apart. When one key vote came up, Abraham Baldwin of Georgia switched sides and made it a tie, which kept the talks alive.
The answer was a compromise, an agreement where each side gives up something. Congress would have two houses. In the House of Representatives, seats depend on population. In the Senate, every state has two.
Here are the seats in the first Congress. A bill needs both houses to pass, so big and small states each have a say. That's the Great Compromise.

Georgia Standards of Excellence in Social Studies:

SS4H2.b — Evaluate the major issues debated at the Constitutional Convention: the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, the rights of states to govern themselves (federal system), the Great Compromise, and slavery (Three-Fifths Compromise).
IPS.3 — Information Processing Skill 3: identify issues and/or problems and alternative solutions (developing in Grade 4)