MSTEP Social Studies Practice Test

Bicameral legislature describes a two-house form of the legislature. The Great Compromise created a two-house Congress by establishing the Senate, where each state has equal representation, and the House of Representatives, where representation is based on population. This setup was designed to balance the interests of both large and small states and to distribute power between richer and more populous states and smaller ones. The other terms don’t fit: a unicameral legislature has only one chamber; an oligarchy is rule by a few people; a confederation is a loose alliance of states with weak central authority.