It is January 26th. Welcome to Episode 26 of History in a Year. Today, the Constitutional Convention hits a brick wall. The Big States and Small States are locked in a death grip over power. We witness the sweltering “July Crisis” where George Washington despairs that the union is dissolving. We meet the awkward, rumpled genius Roger Sherman, who proposes a solution that no one likes but everyone accepts. And we confront the darkest bargain of them all: the Three-Fifths Compromise.
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STEPHEN:
Welcome to History in a Year: America’s First 250 Years.
LEAH:
Join us every single day as we journey from the Revolution of 1776 to the 250th anniversary of the United States.
STEPHEN:
You can find every episode and join the discussion at PointedWords.com. I’m Stephen.
LEAH:
And I’m Leah.
STEPHEN:
It is January 26th. Welcome to Episode 26. Yesterday, we stepped inside the secret room in Philadelphia in May 1787. We saw the windows nailed shut. We saw the delegates swear an oath of secrecy.
LEAH:
And we saw the fight begin immediately. It was the “Virginia Plan” versus the “New Jersey Plan.” Or, more simply: The Big States versus The Small States.
STEPHEN:
This is the issue that nearly killed the Constitution in the cradle. It was all about representation.
LEAH:
Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts had large populations. They said, “We have more people, so we should have more votes in Congress. That is democracy.”
STEPHEN:
Delaware, New Jersey, and Connecticut had small populations. They said, “If representation is based on population, the Big States will just outvote us every time. We will be swallowed up. We want equal representation—one state, one vote—just like under the Articles.”
LEAH:
By late June, the Convention was deadlocked. The arguments were getting nasty. We mentioned yesterday that Gunning Bedford of Delaware threatened to leave and join a foreign power.
STEPHEN:
The weather wasn’t helping. It was a brutal heatwave. The delegates were stuffed into that room in their wool coats, sweating, swatting flies, and staring at each other with hatred.
LEAH:
It got so bad that Benjamin Franklin—the old sage—tried to calm things down. On June 28th, he stood up and suggested that they hire a chaplain to open every session with a prayer.
STEPHEN:
He said, “I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men.”
LEAH:
It was a beautiful sentiment. But do you know what happened? They rejected it!
STEPHEN:
Alexander Hamilton reportedly argued against it (though some records dispute this), basically saying they didn’t need “foreign aid.” But the real reason was embarrassing: The Convention didn’t have any money to pay a priest!
LEAH:
That’s how desperate the situation was. They were broke, angry, and hopeless. George Washington wrote to a friend: “I almost despair of seeing a favorable issue to the proceedings of the Convention, and do therefore repent having had any agency in the business.”
STEPHEN:
Imagine that. George Washington regretted coming. He thought the United States was going to fail right there in that room.
LEAH:
But there was one man who wasn’t panicking. A delegate from Connecticut named Roger Sherman.
STEPHEN:
Roger Sherman is the most important Founding Father you’ve probably never heard of. He was a singular character. He was arguably the most experienced politician in the room. He is the only man to sign all four great state papers of the U.S.: The Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution.
LEAH:
But he didn’t look like a statesman. He was a former cobbler—a shoemaker. He was tall, awkward, and dressed in unstylish, rumpled clothes. He spoke with a thick, country Yankee accent.
STEPHEN:
Thomas Jefferson once pointed Sherman out to a visitor and said, “That is Mr. Sherman, of Connecticut, a man who never said a foolish thing in his life.”
LEAH:
Sherman was practical. He didn’t care about high philosophy like Madison. He cared about making a deal.
STEPHEN:
On June 11th, and then again in early July, Sherman proposed a compromise. It was simple, but brilliant.
LEAH:
He said: Why not both?
STEPHEN:
He proposed that the legislature be split into two houses (bicameral).
In the Lower House (the House of Representatives), representation would be based on population. The people would elect them. This satisfied Virginia and the Big States.
LEAH:
But in the Upper House (the Senate), representation would be equal. Each state would get two Senators, chosen by their state legislatures. This satisfied Delaware and the Small States.
STEPHEN:
This is called the “Connecticut Compromise” or the “Great Compromise.” It created the hybrid system we still live with today. It’s why California has 52 Representatives and Wyoming has 1, but both have exactly 2 Senators.
LEAH:
It sounds obvious to us now. But to James Madison, it was a disaster.
STEPHEN:
Madison hated it. He was a pure democrat. He thought it was illogical that 60,000 people in Delaware should have the same power in the Senate as 700,000 people in Virginia. He fought it tooth and nail.
LEAH:
But Sherman worked the room. He got the moderate delegates on board. Finally, on July 16, 1787, they took the vote.
STEPHEN:
It was razor-thin. Five states voted “Yes” (Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina). Four states voted “No” (Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia).
LEAH:
But wait, that’s only nine states. What about the others?
STEPHEN:
Massachusetts was divided, so their vote didn’t count. New York wasn’t even there! Two of the New York delegates—John Lansing and Robert Yates—had walked out in protest weeks earlier, leaving Alexander Hamilton alone. And since a state needed two delegates to cast a vote, New York was silent.
LEAH:
So, the Great Compromise passed by one vote. One single vote saved the Constitution.
STEPHEN:
Washington breathed a sigh of relief. The Small States were safe. They agreed to stay.
LEAH:
But as soon as they solved that problem, a much darker, uglier problem emerged from the shadows.
STEPHEN:
If representation in the House is based on population… how do you count enslaved people?
LEAH:
This was the elephant in the room. The Southern states—South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia—had massive populations of enslaved Black people. In South Carolina, slaves were nearly 40% of the population.
STEPHEN:
The Southern delegates made a hypocritical argument. They treated slaves as “property” by law—you could buy and sell them like cattle. But for the purpose of representation in Congress, they wanted to count them as “people.”
LEAH:
They wanted the political power that came with those numbers. They wanted more seats in Congress.
STEPHEN:
The Northern delegates—like Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts—were disgusted. Gerry argued, “If property is to the rule of representation, why shouldn’t we count the cattle and horses of the North?”
LEAH:
The North said: You can’t have it both ways. Either they are citizens who can vote (which the South would never allow), or they are property and don’t count at all.
STEPHEN:
But the South drew a line in the sand. Delegates from South Carolina and Georgia made it clear: If you don’t count our slaves, we will walk out. There will be no Union.
LEAH:
The Convention was stuck again. It was a choice between a moral wrong and a failed nation.
STEPHEN:
So, they compromised again. James Wilson of Pennsylvania proposed a fraction. He suggested that for the census, every “free person” would count as one, and “all other persons” (a euphemism for slaves) would count as three-fifths of a person.
LEAH:
This is the infamous Three-Fifths Compromise.
STEPHEN:
It is important to understand what this was. It wasn’t the Founders saying a Black person was only 60% human. It was a mathematical formula for political power.
LEAH:
Ironically, the South wanted them to count as 5/5ths (to get more power). The North wanted them to count as 0/5ths (to deny the South power).
STEPHEN:
The 3/5ths number gave the South a massive advantage. For the next 70 years, the South dominated the House of Representatives and the Presidency because they were getting extra electoral votes based on millions of people who couldn’t vote and had no rights.
LEAH:
It was a “deal with the devil.” But the delegates felt they had no choice. They accepted it to keep the South in the Union.
STEPHEN:
The word “slave” was never written in the Constitution. They used code words like “Person held to Service or Labour” or “all other persons.” They were ashamed of it, even as they wrote it.
LEAH:
So, by mid-July, the basic structure was in place. A House, a Senate, and a formula for counting people.
STEPHEN:
But there was one big piece left. The “Executive.”
LEAH:
They knew they needed a leader. But what kind? A King? A committee? A Prime Minister?
STEPHEN:
Some delegates wanted a President who served for life. Others wanted a three-person council. And almost no one could figure out how to pick him.
LEAH:
Join us tomorrow for Episode 27. We invent the Presidency. We watch Alexander Hamilton give a six-hour speech suggesting an American King, and we try to unravel the mystery of the Electoral College.
STEPHEN:
I’m Leah.
STEPHEN:
And I’m Stephen.
STEPHEN:
You can find every episode at PointedWords.com. And this… is our story.