<P> The problem was referred to a committee consisting of one delegate from each State to reach a compromise . On July 5, the committee submitted its report, which became the basis for the "Great Compromise" of the Convention . The report recommended that in the upper house each State should have an equal vote and in the lower house, each State should have one representative for every 40,000 inhabitants, counting slaves as three - fifths of an inhabitant, and that money bills should originate in the lower house (not subject to amendment by the upper chamber). </P> <P> After six weeks of turmoil, North Carolina switched its vote to equal representation per state and Massachusetts abstained, and a compromise was reached, being called the "Great Compromise ." In the "Great Compromise," every state was given equal representation, previously known as the New Jersey Plan, in one house of Congress, and proportional representation, known before as the Virginia Plan, in the other . Because it was considered more responsive to majority sentiment, the House of Representatives was given the power to originate all legislation dealing with the federal budget and revenues / taxation, per the Origination Clause . </P> <P> Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth, both of the Connecticut delegation, created a compromise that, in a sense, blended the Virginia (large - state) and New Jersey (small - state) proposals regarding congressional apportionment . Ultimately, however, its main contribution was in determining the apportionment of the Senate . Sherman sided with the two - house national legislature of the Virginia Plan but proposed "That the proportion of suffrage in the 1st . Branch (house) should be according to the respective numbers of free inhabitants; and that in the second branch or Senate, each State should have one vote and no more ." Although Sherman was well liked and respected among the delegates, his plan failed at first . It was not until July 23 that representation was finally settled . </P> <P> What was ultimately included in the constitution was a modified form of this plan, partly because the larger states disliked it . In committee, Benjamin Franklin modified Sherman's proposal to make it more acceptable to the larger states . He added the requirement that revenue bills originate in the house . </P>

The connecticut compromise is called the great compromise because it