Which historical compromise established a bicameral Congress?

• A. The Great Compromise
• B. The New Jersey Plan
• C. The Northwest Ordinance
• D. The Three-Fifths Compromise

Answer: (A)

Creating a bicameral Congress was about balancing the interests of large and small states by combining two different representations. At the 1787 Constitutional Convention, there was a clash between plans that favored representation by population and plans that favored equal representation for each state. The solution—the Great Compromise—built two houses: one with representation based on population, and another with equal representation for every state. This arrangement ensures that both larger states and smaller states have a voice in making laws, which is why it established the two-chamber structure of Congress.

Other options relate to different ideas: one proposed a unicameral legislature with equal votes, not two houses; another dealt with governing western territories; and the last concerned how enslaved people would be counted for representation and taxation, not the structure of Congress.