Chapter 4, The Politics of Constitution-Making Summary

The outcome of the Constitutional Convention is the result of compromise, as is true with any legislative voting assembly. Two compromises, in particular, stand out. The first involves equal state representation in the Senate. It is said if the larger states hadn’t accepted this compromise, the Convention would have ended and the Union probably would have fallen apart. The second compromise allows the Southern states to count three-fifths of their slaves as population. This allows the South greater representation in the House. As with all compromises, these two represent concessions to various special interest groups. Every group at the Convention receives concessions of one kind of another.

When the Convention begins, most delegates are late in arriving. This gives the Virginia delegation the time to draft a plan, known as the Virginia Plan, based...