Connecticut 250, Roger Sherman, the father of the US Congress

Roger Sherman -- a Connecticut delegate to The Constitutional Convention and the only founding father who signed all four key U.S. founding documents: the Continental Association, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution -- proposed on July 16, 1787 a plan of governance that solved a seemingly intractable problem. The larger and smaller states had been engaging in a representational debate that had brought the national Convention to a standstill. The solution to the problem, called at the time The Great Compromise or the Connecticut Compromise, was one of those solutions that really did solve a pressing problem.

 

The proposal by Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth, also a delegate to the national convention, answered the question: How should representation in the new Constitutional national Senate be apportioned among large and small states?

 

The large states believed that representation should be based proportionally on the contribution each state made to the nation’s finances and defense; the smaller states believed that the only fair plan was one of equal representation.

 

The single most important question before the national delegates gathered to press upon the nation a working constitution, a form of government, was—who should decide what should be done? That is the question the delegates assembled to “make a more perfect union” – to borrow a phrase later deployed by President Abe Lincoln in a quite different context -- had attempted to answer in their constitution.

 

Sherman and Ellsworth refused to view the question as an “either or,” and their proposed resolution of of the standoff between large and small states was indeed a great compromise. The Connecticut Compromise provided a dual system of representation: In the House of Representatives each state’s number of seats would be in proportion to population, while In the Senate all states would have the same number of seats.

 

Edmund Randolph of Virginia had proposed a bicameral legislature of proportional representation in both houses of Congress, a proposal that satisfied the political ambitions of large states such as Virginia and New York. William Paterson, a delegate from New Jersey had proposed a single house legislature for all states to insure equal representation. Neither side would compromise and the convention was hopelessly immobilized.

 

The Sherman-Ellsworth solution envisioned a bicameral legislature that satisfied a majority of representatives to the convention, and on July 16, 1787, the Connecticut Compromise was adopted by a one vote majority.

 

Just as George Washington is celebrated as “the Father of his Country” and  Samuel Adams, much underrated, was known even in his own day as “the Father of the American Revolution,” so Sherman and Ellsworth, both justly celebrated in Connecticut, should be held up to the nation as “the Fathers of the US Congress,” a building and institution within sight of the Democrat Party abandoned Connecticut booth marking the July 4th 250^th  anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on the National Mall.

 

All of Connecticut’s U.S. Congressional Representatives – including the state’s two U.S. Senators, Dick Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, neither of whom is camera shy – boycotted the event because President Donald Trump had arranged the July 4^th celebration. These sad-sacks might have joined in celebration of one or both of the men whose Connecticut Compromise gave Constitutional shape to the Congress of the United States.

 

But NOOOO! Anything polluted by the mere touch of the man they falsely regard as a tyrant – whose term in office will be concluded on January 20, 2029, not a mark of tyranny – must be regarded as untouchable. And so the Connecticut booth at the nation’s semi quincentennial celebration remained unattended by the state’s Democrat Congressional Representatives. There are no Republican Representatives in the US Congress; the governor’s office has been the property of Democrats since Governor Jodi Rell retired on January 5, 2011; and Democrats now have a veto-proof majority in the General Assembly. If Connecticut government is not a one party tyranny, it most certainly is a Democrat controlled political hegemony.

 

Fortunately, the Connecticut booth, occupied by a small band of patriots, was not left unattended. Here is Connecticut Senator Rob Samson celebration the nation’s 250^th birthday from Connecticut’s repatriated booth: “Hi, I’m State Senator Rob Sampson coming to you from the Connecticut booth here at the Freedom 250 event in Washington DC, and I’m here taking the place of our Connecticut coalition that the Governor of Connecticut was supposed to send down. But in his absence, I and my colleague Representative Gale Mastrofrancesco have decided to come down and represent Connecticut for all the people back home, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, unaffiliated voters. This is bigger than party affiliation. This is about the birth of our nation and the love of our country. I am so excited to celebrate America’s 250^th birthday. So, hello to everybody back home.”