Episode Details

It's 1787 and you are a delegate to the Constitutional Convention.  You represent a midsize state and arriving 3 days late, you encounter James Madison's Virginia Plan to allocate representation among the states proportionally.  You realize how this would be a detriment to smaller states who are needed to ratify the Constitution.  What do you do?  You are Roger Sherman from Connecticut and you draft the Connecticut Compromise which allocates representation in the lower chamber based on population but guarantees equal state representation in the upper chamber.  Why was this necessary and what other provisions did it entail?  To answer these questions, we are pleased welcome Mark David Hall, Professor in the Robertson School of Government at Regent University and scholar on early America.