Editing Connecticut Compromise (section)

==Background==
{{Further|History of the United States Senate}}
On May 29, 1787, [[Edmund Randolph]] of the [[Virginia]] delegation proposed the creation of a bicameral legislature. Under his proposal, known as the [[Virginia Plan|Virginia or Randolph Plan]], membership in both houses would be allocated to each state proportional to its population. Candidates for the lower house would be nominated and elected by the people of each state, while candidates for the upper house would be nominated by the state legislatures and then elected by the members of the lower house.

Less populous states like [[Delaware]] were afraid that such an arrangement would result in their voices and interests being drowned out by the larger states. Many delegates also felt that the Convention did not have the authority to completely scrap the [[Articles of Confederation]],<ref name="MadisonJune16">{{cite web |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/debates_616.asp |title=Madison's notes, June 16 1787 |publisher=Yale Avalon project}}</ref> as the Virginia Plan would have done.<ref name="MadisonMay30">{{cite web |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/debates_530.asp|title=Madison's notes, May 30 1787|publisher=Yale Avalon project}}</ref> In response, on June 15, 1787, [[William Paterson (judge)|William Paterson]] of the [[New Jersey]] delegation proposed a legislature consisting of a single house. Each state was to have equal representation in this body, regardless of population. The [[New Jersey Plan]], as it was called, would have left the Articles of Confederation in place but would have amended them to somewhat increase [[Congress of the Confederation|Congress's]] powers.<ref name="MadisonJune15">{{cite web |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/debates_615.asp |title=Madison's notes, June 15 1787|publisher=Yale Avalon project}}</ref>

At the time of the convention, the South was growing more quickly than the North, and southern states had the most extensive [[State cessions|Western claims]]. [[South Carolina]], [[North Carolina]], and [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] were small in the 1780s, but they expected growth and thus favored proportional representation. [[New York (state)|New York]] was one of the largest states at the time, but two of its three representatives ([[Alexander Hamilton]] being the exception) supported an equal representation per state, as part of their desire to see maximum autonomy for the states.

[[James Madison]] and Hamilton were two of the leaders of the proportional representation group. Madison argued that a conspiracy of large states against the small states was unrealistic as the large states were so different from each other. Hamilton argued that the states were artificial entities made up of individuals and accused small state representatives of wanting power, not liberty. For their part, the small state representatives argued that the states were, in fact, of a legally equal status and that proportional representation would be unfair to their states. [[Gunning Bedford Jr.]] of [[Delaware]] notoriously threatened on behalf of the small states, "the small ones w[ould] find some foreign ally of more honor and good faith, who will take them by the hand and do them justice". [[Elbridge Gerry]] ridiculed the small states' claim of sovereignty, saying "that we never were independent States, were not such now, & never could be even on the principles of the Confederation. The States & the advocates for them were intoxicated with the idea of their sovereignty."<ref name="MadisonJune29">{{cite web |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/debates_629.asp |title=Madison's notes, June 29 1787|publisher=Yale Avalon project}}</ref>

On June 19, 1787, the delegates rejected the New Jersey Plan and voted to proceed with a discussion of the Virginia Plan. The small states became increasingly discontented, and some threatened to withdraw. On July 2, 1787, the Convention was deadlocked over giving each state an equal vote in the upper house, with five states in the affirmative, five in the negative, and one divided.