Great Compromise creates bicameral Congress

On July 16, 1787, the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia adopted the Connecticut Compromise after weeks of conflict between large-state and small-state delegates. Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut supported a legislature with proportional representation in the House and equal representation in the Senate. The convention accepted that structure by a narrow vote, preserving the possibility of completing the Constitution.

The compromise addressed the most dangerous political dispute at Philadelphia: whether populous states such as Virginia and Pennsylvania would dominate the Union or whether small states such as New Jersey and Delaware would retain meaningful equality. Delegates from small states had threatened to leave the convention rather than surrender equal voting power in the national legislature. The July vote therefore prevented the convention from collapsing over representation and state sovereignty.

The Great Compromise became Article I's bicameral Congress and made later bargains over slavery, taxation, and ratification possible within the same constitutional framework. Without the July 16 settlement, the Constitution signed on September 17, 1787 would likely never have reached the state conventions.