How did the framers of the Constitution balance the competing claims of local self-government, sectional interests, and national authority?

Through a series of compromises, the members of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 addressed the competing claims of local self-government, sectional interests, and national authority to form the tenets of the law of the United States. Prior to the signing of the Constitution, the Articles of Confederation provided for strong states’ rights with a weak central government. The framers of the Constitution believed “it is wise and feasible to distribute and balance powers within government, giving local powers to local governments, and general powers to the national government; that all persons are born equal and should be treated as equal before the law.” The Judicial, Legislative, and Executive branches of the central government were formed as a series of checks and balances. Therefore, the Constitution includes a balance of power between the branches of the central government, and between the central and state governments. This in turn affects the working of local governments.

Realizing that a central government was necessary to maintain the union of states, the framers of the Constitution worked to ensure that the country had a central military and economic system. In order to do this, the framers had to make a series of compromises.

The Great Compromise, also known as the Connecticut Compromise, addressed the formula for choosing the number of delegates to the House of Representative and the Senate. In order to make this compromise work, the framers had to work with the Virginia and New Jersey Plans. By establishing two Legislative branches, portions of both plans were implemented. According to the Great Compromise, each state would have two delegates in the Senate in spite of its population. The number of delegates in the House of Representatives is based on the population of each state regardless of its geographic size.

After the acceptance of the Great Compromise, the Three-fifths Compromise was enacted. This compromise addresses sectional differences on how to include slaves in the population count when determining the number of state delegates to the House of Representative. The Southern states preferred the slaves to be included, which would increase their number of delegates. Northern states were not as reliant on slaves therefore felt they should not be counted. The compromise called for every five slaves to be counted as three people in the population count.

The Commerce Compromise also addressed sectional differences. Once again the North and South did not agree. This time they disagreed on how the government should be able to impose tariffs. This compromise allowed for tariffs on goods that were imported into the United States, but not on exports.

The Slave Trade Compromise tabled the abolition of slavery until 1808, thus allowing the Southern states to maintain the institution they felt was necessary for its agrarian economy.

When it came to the election of the president, the framers had the foresight to see problems with the election of the Executive Officer by popular vote and established the Electoral College.