The Constitutional Convention of 1787 People representing all states but Rhode Island came to Philadelphia for a special meeting. At the meeting, they sat down together to write up a plan for how the United States would be run. Two plans were offered—the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan. The people who wrote the Virginia Plan wanted the new government to be very strong. It would have three branches—executive, legislative, and judicial. But some of the smaller states did not like this plan. They were afraid the larger states would be too powerful, and the voices of the smaller states would not be heard. The other plan was the New Jersey Plan. It would give Congress a fair amount of power, but it would also give the states a lot of control. The people at the meeting finally decided to use ideas from both plans. They created a Senate that would have an equal number of people sent there from each state. That gave the small and large states an equal voice. They also created the House of Representatives. In the House, the number of members from each state would be based on how many people live there. The new government would have three branches. No branch would have more power than the other. This new plan was called the Great Compromise. Our U. S. Constitution was based on this plan. The Constitution was first presented to the American people on September 17, 1787. Based on the reading selection above, why was the new plan called The Great Compromise? A. because the delegates only took ideas from the New Jersey plan B. because it took ideas from both the New Jersey and the Virginia Plan C. because none of the delegates to the Convention thought the plan would work D. because smaller states would not have as great a part in the government