Final answer:
The Great Compromise was an agreement that led to the formation of a bicameral U.S. Congress, balancing the representation of large and small states in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Great Compromise, also known as the Connecticut Compromise, was a pivotal agreement during the drafting of the U.S. Constitution that shaped the structure of the U.S. Congress. It emerged as a solution to a dispute between representatives from large and small states at the 1787 Constitutional Convention over how states should be represented in the new government.
The compromise led to the creation of a bicameral legislature, the Congress, which is composed of two houses: the Senate, where each state is represented equally with two senators, and the House of Representatives, where representation is based on the population of each state. This structure combined the Virginia Plan, which favored representation based on state population, and the New Jersey Plan, which called for equal representation for all states regardless of size.