“While perhaps not decisive, the widely shared sentiments of an ideal Senate – independent to be an effective check, small to promote deliberations and selected (rather than elected) to improve both deliberations and the failure pushed the convention toward compromise” (Wirls, p. 77). Federalists, hoping for a more national composition, pushed for proportional representation in the Senate, but the two groups' common desire for the Senate to be small soon led to the abandonment of proportional representation. “As support for proportional representation in the Senate was eroded by the problem of the size and role of state selection, equal representation emerged as the only viable alternative” (Wirls, p..