Connecticut Compromise

[2] In response, on June 15, 1787, William Paterson of the New Jersey delegation proposed a legislature consisting of a single house.

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's powers.

[3] At the time of the convention, the South was growing more quickly than the North, and southern states had the most extensive Western claims.

"[6] What was ultimately included in the constitution was a modified form of this plan, partly because the larger states disliked it.

In committee, Benjamin Franklin modified Sherman's proposal to make it more acceptable to the larger states.

James Madison of Virginia, Rufus King of Massachusetts, and Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania each vigorously opposed the compromise since it left the Senate looking like the Confederation Congress.

As the personally influential senators received terms much longer than the state legislators who elected them, they became substantially independent.

The compromise continued to serve the self-interests of small-state political leaders, who were assured of access to more seats in the Senate than they might otherwise have obtained.

[11]This agreement allowed deliberations to continue and thus led to the Three-fifths Compromise, which further complicated the issue of popular representation in the House.