Too much liberty as was in the Articles could lead to anarchy. The national government's powers, delegated powers, included conducting foreign relations and maintaining an army while the state government's powers, reserved powers, included regulating business within the state and conducting elections. They also had shared powers called the concurrent powers which encompassed maintaining the law and order as well as levying taxes. Republicanism survived when they separated the powers of the federal government to represent the people giving specific powers to each branch for organization which acted independently to ensure liberty. The judicial branch interpreted laws, the legislative branch created laws, and the executive enforced them. To keep each branch from getting too powerful and becoming a monarchy, a system of checks and balances was put into place. Each branch had the influence of another as seen through the example of how a law is passed.
Though the delegates agreed on these fundamental changes to the Constitution, they still disagreed on some things one of which was resolved in the Great Compromise. This was the debate on representation of the states in Congress. The Virginia Plan stated that representation should be based on population thus supporting the states with a larger population. This did not sit well with those of the states with a smaller population and in response conceived the New Jersey Plan which stated that each state be given the same number of representatives regardless of population to help support the smaller states from being silenced by the majority. In response, the delegates of the Constitutional Convention synthesized the Great Compromise in which there is a bicameral Congress. One house, the House of Representatives, was based on population to satisfy the ideas of the Virginia Plan while the other house, the Senate, appointed each state two representatives regardless of population, adhering to the New Jersey Plan.
