[Verse 1]
Thirteen states tied by a thread of twine,
no king, no purse, no power to align,
Congress could ask but could never command,
a confederation built on shifting sand.
Shays and his farmers took up pitchforks and rage,
the states saw the cracks spreading page after page,
so in Philly they gathered, summer of '87,
windows shut tight, arguing past eleven.
[Chorus]
Great Compromise, shake and divide,
House by the people, Senate side by side,
two from each state, no matter the size,
Connecticut's deal made the union comply.
Check it, balance it, write it in ink,
three branches linked like a chain at the brink,
remember the hooks: Convention, Compromise, Rights,
that's how the republic survived its first nights.
[Verse 2]
Virginia wanted seats stacked high as you grow,
New Jersey said equal, one state, one row,
Sherman and Ellsworth split the baby in two,
House counts your people, Senate's pair holds true.
Lower chamber breathes with the census's beat,
upper chamber anchors, two senators per seat,
fifty-five men sweating through a Philadelphia June,
stitched a Congress together, a bicameral tune.
[Verse 3]
Madison picked up his quill, wrote Federalist Ten,
said factions are fissiparous — splintering again and again,
small groups snapping into warring little bands,
but a large republic spreads them thin across the land,
dilutes the poison, lets no faction rule alone.
Then Fifty-One declared it in a sharper tone,
ambition must counteract ambition, plain and true,
give each branch the muscle to push the others through.
[Chorus]
Great Compromise, shake and divide,
House by the people, Senate side by side,
two from each state, no matter the size,
Connecticut's deal made the union comply.
Check it, balance it, write it in ink,
three branches linked like a chain at the brink,
remember the hooks: Convention, Compromise, Rights,
that's how the republic survived its first nights.
[Verse 4]
Congress makes the laws, the President runs the show,
courts interpret meaning when the arguments grow,
veto, override, confirm, and review,
a bulwark of friction so no king breaks through.
By seventeen-ninety-one the people wanted more,
ten amendments landed, rights they'd fight for,
speech and press and quiet in your home,
now twenty-seven total in the founding tome.
[Bridge]
Cross the ocean, parliaments fuse their power tight,
prime minister rises from the legislature's light,
but here the branches stand divided, separate, apart,
three rival engines sharing one American heart.
[Chorus]
Great Compromise, shake and divide,
House by the people, Senate side by side,
two from each state, no matter the size,
Connecticut's deal made the union comply.
Check it, balance it, write it in ink,
three branches linked like a chain at the brink,
remember the hooks: Convention, Compromise, Rights,
that's how the republic survived its first nights.