New Jersey v. Virginia

At the convention many important things were discussed, such as what the national bird should be. Benjamin Franklin suggested the turkey[23]. Yes...the turkey, or as you may call it, Thanksgiving dinner.


After much debate, Ben had to give in and it was decided that the Bald Eagle would be a better option.

After they got the important stuff out of the way they had to figure out the minor details of how to run their government.

One plan was the New Jersey Plan! This plan called for a unicameral[24] legislature, and representation to be determined by population. The small states thought this was a dandy idea. New Jersey had never been so proud[25].

The small states were a go, but the bigger states weren't having it.

In comes the Virginia Plan. This called for a bicameral legislature [26], one house would be represented equally while the other would depend on population of state or how much money it had. The bigger states thought this was fantastic, they hoisted Virginia on their shoulders while others stood in awe and slow clapped.

The small states were alert and on their toes. They wanted to know how the slaves would factor in.

Slave states said they should be counted, non slave states said it wasn't fair. The slave states said of course it was fair, after all, the slaves were people too![27] Eventually a compromise was met, the Three Fifths Compromise.

The decision was made that for every 5 slaves, only 3 of them would be counted in population. Or three out of 5 slaves were considered to be real people! [28]

[23] I'm sure the turkey was a good idea, especially, because Ben was probably drunk at the time.
[24] Uni is a prefix for one, such as a unicorn or a unicycle!
[25] Except for when Springsteen and Bon Jovi made it big
[26] and Bi is a prefix for 2, like bicycle so we would have two legislative houses!
[27] This was sort of a double standard, a sad double standard
[28] Cue America the Beautiful