Compromise's Death

The grandest irony I have endured as an adult is the adage, "Do as I say, not as I do." This could be no more fitting than in our current political "debate" with regards to the debt ceiling. We teach our children that throughout our history our leaders have had to make tough choices and compromises to eventually meet the end goal. Yet, today our current crop of politicians, who say they value and honor the ideals of the Founding Fathers, scoff at the idea or mere thought of compromise. Our system of government was designed for compromise, to have differing opinions come together and each give something in order to move forward. For those that think scoring political points is better than compromise then you are not a student of United States history. Here is a brief list of some compromises that helped shape our country:

Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth drafting the "Great Compromise"

The Great Compromise or Connecticut Compromise:  Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth, both delegates from Connecticut, devised the idea of a bicameral legislative branch, creating the House of Representatives and the Senate. This compromise helped move the Constitutional convention forward and keep the country together.


The Three-Fifths Compromise: Though seen as abhorrent today, this was an important step in the abolitionist movement. Seeing that the Southern states would not free their slaves but wanted to count them as part of the population to gain more power in the House of Representatives, the Northern delegates did what they had to do to mitigate the power of the slaving holding states with the long term goal of abolishing slavery.

The Compromise of 1790: Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson had been intense political foes for many years and had very different ideas for the future of the United States. The Compromise of 1790 was the first of three that would try to keep the Union together until 1860. After the War of Independence the states had incurred large amounts of debt incurred. Hamilton saw that it would be best for the Federal government to assume the entire debt of the new nation but Jefferson saw that as handing the central government too much power. In exchange for a group of Southern votes a comprise was reached in which the Federal government assumed all debts and a new capitol was created along the Potomac River: The District of Colombia.


The Civil Rights Act of 1964: President Johnson first mission after assuming office after President Kennedy's assassination was the passage of the Civil Rights Acts. Having passed the House quickly the original version of the bill was stalled in the Senate by a 54 day filibuster led by Strom Thurmond. Seeing that the bill would not pass, a coalition of Senators made a compromise bill that would garner enough votes to stop the filibuster and pass the House. Though not 100% what was wanted the compromise bill was a gigantic leap forward for civil rights in the United States. Had those Senators not felt that the greater good would be served by compromise, who knows how much longer the United States would have remained a back water of civil rights.

There are many more examples of past politicians with the will and forethought to make compromises to move our country forward. I ask that our current members of the House and Senate look to our past to see what great futures are brought by compromise.

Jeffrey E. Porter
July 11th, 2011