32 PART oNE • THE AmERiCAN sYsTEm
Supremacy Doctrine
A doctrine that asserts
the priority of national
law over state laws.
This principle is stated
in Article VI of the
Constitution.
Great Compromise
The compromise between
the New Jersey and
Virginia plans that
created one chamber
of the Congress based
on population and one
chamber representing
each state equally; also
called the Connecticut
Compromise.equality; therefore, the convention had no power to change this arrangement. He pro-
posed the following:n The fundamental principle of the Articles of Confederation—one state, one vote—
would be retained.
n Congress would be able to regulate trade and impose taxes.
n All acts of Congress would be the supreme law of the land.
n Several people would be elected by Congress to form an executive office.
n The executive office would appoint a Supreme Court.Basically, the New Jersey Plan was simply an amendment of the Articles of
Confederation. Its only notable feature was its reference to the supremacy doctrine,
which was later included in the Constitution.The “Great Compromise.” The delegates were at an impasse. Most wanted a strong
national government and were unwilling even to consider the New Jersey Plan. But when
the Virginia Plan was brought up again, the small states threatened to leave. It was not
until July 16 that a compromise was achieved. Roger Sherman of Connecticut proposed
the following:n A bicameral legislature in which the lower chamber, the House of Representatives,
would be apportioned according to the number of free inhabitants in each state, plus
three-fifths of the slaves.
n An upper chamber, the Senate, which would have two members from each state
elected by the state legislatures.This plan, known as the great compromise, broke the deadlock. (The plan is also
called the Connecticut Compromise because of the role of the Connecticut delegates in
the proposal.) It did exact a political price, however, because it permitted each state to
have equal representation in the Senate. Having two senators represent each state diluted
the voting power of citizens living in more heavily populated states and gave the smaller
states disproportionate political power. But the Connecticut Compromise resolved the
controversy between small and large states. In addition, the Senate would act as a check
on the House, which many feared would be dominated by the masses and excessively
responsive to them.The Three-Fifths Compromise. The Great Compromise also settled another major
issue—how to deal with slaves in the representational scheme. Slavery was still legal
in several northern states, but it was concentrated in the South. Many delegates were
opposed to slavery and wanted it banned entirely in the United States. Charles Pinckney
of South Carolina led strong southern opposition to a ban on slavery. Furthermore, the
South wanted slaves to be counted along with free persons in determining represen-
tation in Congress. Delegates from the northern states objected. Sherman’s three-fifths
proposal was a compromise between northerners who did not want the slaves counted at
all and southerners who wanted them counted in the same way as free whites. Actually,
Sherman’s Connecticut plan spoke of three-fifths of “all other persons” (and that is the
language of the Constitution itself). It is not hard to figure out, though, who those other
persons were. The three-fifths compromise illustrates the power of the southern states at
the convention.^9- See Garry Wills, “Negro President”: Jefferson and the Slave Power (New York: Houghton Mifflin,
2003).
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