The Case That Crippled Rural America

The United States has a bicameral legislature. Simply, this means the American Congress or Legislative branch has two parts, houses, or chambers, a House of Representatives, and a Senate.

Representatives are many, numbering over 400, while Senators are fewer, numbering only 100. This disparity exists on account of a major and essential compromise between the states during the adoption of the constitution. The original states varied greatly in size, population, and lifestyle, so understandably, when a closer union was proposed, many began to wonder how this would affect them; would states with higher populations dominate those with smaller populations? Would geographically larger states hold more power over smaller states? Should every state receive an equal say in policy regardless of its size and population? The thought of national policy being steered unfairly in one direction or the other was a tremendous concern for all; raised questions of whether or not each state was equal under the constitution; and stood as a barrier in the way of unity; neither side wishing to surrender itself to the whims of states that would naturally favor different policies.

Non-compliance from the smaller states ultimately forced the larger states to negotiate, producing what came to be known as the Great Compromise. It was decided that the House would receive Representatives based upon each state’s population, while the Senate received two senators equally from each state, regardless of population. This was proportional representation in…