We reviewed that the Articles of Confederation,the first federal government of the US, was far too weak because it did not give enough power over the states to the federal government. In 1787 12 of the 13 original states sent delegates to the Constitutional Convention to design a new government that would have more power. The Great Compromise at the convention combined elements of both the VA Plan and the NJ Plan and created a bicameral government, one with proportional representation and the other with equal representation. Participants in the Constitutional Convention also compromised by creating the electoral college and the 3/5 compromise. The electoral college is a process in which state electors decide the winner of presidential elections. The 3/5 compromise determined that enslaved people would be counted as less than free people in a state's political representation.