Virginia Plan
The Virginia Plan was a proposal for the structure of the United States government that was presented by Edmund Randolph at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The plan calls for three branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial. It also proposed a bicameral legislature with proportional representation based on population size. This meant that larger states would have more representatives than smaller states in Congress.
The main purpose of the plan was to create an effective federal system that could provide stability and security to all its citizens regardless of their location or economic standing. In addition, it sought to strengthen state sovereignty while still allowing for national laws to be enforced uniformly across all states. While some delegates were opposed to certain aspects of this plan, such as equal representation among each state’s delegation, most ultimately agreed upon it due to its potential benefits and necessity for creating a unified nation out of thirteen independent colonies at war with one another just over two decades prior.
Ultimately, despite several modifications being made throughout the course of the debate within Philadelphia’s Independence Hall in the summer of 1787 (most notably giving each state equal representation in one house), much remained from Randolph’s original proposals when eventually adopted into law through ratification by 9 out of 10 required states on June 21, 1788—officially establishing what is now known today as” the Constitution,” America's oldest existing legal document which serves as our country’s governing framework until present. day.