Why did the Framers of the Constitution create a bicameral legislature?

After seven weeks of hard work during the summer of 1787,
the Constitutional Conventional was in serious jeopardy of concluding without a document
that would replace the ineffective Articles of Confederation. Delegates of the
convention were threatening to withdraw from the proceedings if their voices were not
heard on one important issue. This issue was fiercely debated for two weeks and had
polarized the delegates to the point of frustration. The issue at stake was the
apportionment of members to the legislative branch of the newly formed United States.
The parties at odds were delegates of less populated states and those from states with
robust populations.

The smaller states insisted that
representation in the legislative branch have equal suffrage for each state. They felt
that larger states would become tyrannical and abuse their advantage at the cost of
small states. The plan they proposed was known as the New Jersey
Plan.

The heavily populated states, on the other hand, felt
that they would be contributing more revenue for the maintenance of the nation and
should have more representation than smaller states. Their plan, the Virginia Plan,
would base representation in the houses of Congress entirely on
population.

With the future of the convention in a tenuous
position, it was decided that a committee needed to be established to arrive at a
compromise. As a result of the committee proceedings, Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth
drafted a brilliant solution that would be called the Connecticut Compromise. Their
proposal would allow for apportionment to the lower house be dependent on the population
of the states while the upper house would have equal representation per state. To
further assuage the concerns of the smaller states, further concessions were made in
terms of the powers the lower house would be granted. As an example, spending and
revenue bills are proposed by the lower house and cannot be amended by the upper
house.

The Connecticut Compromise, or the Great Compromise
of 1787, effectively saved the Constitutional Convention. While a bicameral legislature
in itself offers countless benefits in terms of separating powers, the Founding Fathers
chose this route to allow convention proceedings to continue. This allowed for the
ultimate intent of the Convention: the creation of a more perfect
union.