The structure of the modern United States Congress originated from a fierce standoff between large states pushing for population-based representation and small states demanding equal voting power regardless of size.
At the end of the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin famously pointed to the sun carved on George Washington's chair, declaring he was happy to know it was a 'rising and not a setting Sun' for the new nation.
In the system known as the Triangular Trade, European ships brought manufactured goods like firearms and gunpowder to West Africa, which were then exchanged for captive human beings to be sold into slavery in the Americas.
The U.S. Constitution's 'Three-Fifths Compromise' counted each enslaved person as three-fifths of a human for the purpose of granting southern states more political power in Congress.
The Virginia House of Burgesses, established in 1619, was the first elected, representative legislative assembly in the American colonies, marking a major step toward self-government.
