One State, One Vote? The Numbers Behind the Great Compromise

Delaware and the Fight over Seats

1Under the Articles of Confederation, which took effect in 1781, each state had one vote in Congress. John Dickinson of Delaware wrote the first draft of the Articles in 1776, and small states such as Delaware valued the equal vote. But the Articles gave Congress no power to tax, no power to control trade and no president or national courts to carry out its laws. By 1787 many leaders agreed that the national government needed more power. They did not agree about who would control it.

2When delegates met in Philadelphia in May 1787, Delaware's legislature had given its delegates an unusual order: they were not to agree to any change to each state's equal vote. Large states saw the equal vote itself as a weakness of the Articles. James Wilson of Pennsylvania asked why a state with a small share of the nation's people should have as much say as a state with many times more. He argued that seats should follow the number of people, because a government should rest on the people, not on the states.

3Gunning Bedford Jr. of Delaware answered angrily in June. He warned that if the large states took control, the small states might look for a foreign ally that would treat them more fairly. Some delegates feared the convention would break apart.

4On July 16 the convention narrowly accepted a plan offered by Connecticut's delegates: seats in the House of Representatives by population, and two senators for each state. A second fight followed over who would count as population. Delegates from states with many enslaved people wanted them counted for House seats, although enslaved people could not vote and had no say in those states' governments. Many Northern delegates objected. The convention agreed to count three of every five enslaved people for House seats and for direct taxes.

5There had never been a national census, so the Constitution itself listed the first House seats for each state, using the delegates' estimates. It also ordered a census every ten years. The first one, taken in 1790, counted about 3.9 million people. On December 7, 1787, Delaware's convention voted 30 to 0 to approve the Constitution, making Delaware the first state to ratify it.