The Great Compromise, also known as the Connecticut Compromise, was an agreement reached during the 1787 Constitutional Convention to resolve the dispute between large and small states over representation in the new federal legislature. It established a bicameral Congress with two houses:

• The House of Representatives, where representation is based on a state's population, giving larger states more representatives.
• The Senate, where each state has equal representation with two senators regardless of size.

This dual system balanced the interests of both populous and smaller states, allowing the convention to move forward and ultimately leading to the creation of the U.S. Constitution

. Additionally, the compromise included the contentious "three-fifths compromise," which counted three-fifths of enslaved individuals for purposes of representation and taxation, addressing disagreements between Northern and Southern states

. The Great Compromise was adopted on July 16, 1787, and laid the foundation for the American legislative system that remains in place today