The Constitution of the United States, a document setting up America’s government system. When we broke away from the big, bad king of England after the revolutionary war, we strived to create a government unlike the tyranny we had before, a democracy. The Articles of Confederation were created, giving the states more power then the central government. It got the US nowhere, many problems arised, each state which different money systems, different tax laws, and a central government that had no power over the states. Many people knew this government was not working, and most likely would not last long, so a group of individuals (rich white males) came together to discuss a new form of government, around the idea of federalism. The new idea proposed a strong central government, hoping too hold the new country in a single piece, without tyranny like the place …show more content…
So, we know by now there’s the House of Representatives and the Senate in the legislative branch, the amount of members in each are based off a compromise between the Virginia plan and the New Jersey Plan. The Virginia Plan called for the votes in congress to be based on population, while New Jersey called for the votes to be equal amount states. The House of Representatives is based of the population idea of the Virginia Plan, consisting of no more then 435 members, each state has proportional representation based on population. The Senate, however, is based of the New Jersey Plan, each state having two senators, equal representation among all the states. This way, big states have an advantage in the House, small states have the advantage in the Senate making it very balanced. This way, it allows small states to be heard, and seen in congress. This also, prevents a big state from gaining too much power over the small states, becoming a tyrant highly populated state, would be bad
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Show MoreVirginia Plan was created by James Madison but presented to the Constitutional Convention by Edmund Randolph, Governor of Virginia in the year of 1787. The Virginia Plan was about a new form of government and called for the number of votes each state would receive would be based on the population instead of each state receiving just one vote. James Madison and other 56 delegates met in Philadelphia in May 1787, they wanted to make amendments in the Articles of Confederation. They were successful and managed to create a new constitution and as James Madison was representing Virginia, he had become the chief recorder of information. Virginia Plan served as that basis for debate in the development of the U.S. Constitution.
In 1978, two plans were put forth regarding how each state in the union would be represented in the national legislature. The two plans put forth were the, “Virginia Plan” (which favored big states), and the “New Jersey Plan.” (which favored small states) Edmund Randolph of Virginia proposed the Virginia plan. The plan laid out a system in which states would be represented in the national legislature based on their population and/or by how much revenue they contributed to the national government.
I believe that the Virginia plan is much wiser than the New Jersey plan because it was proportional, or corresponding in size, to the population in state. The best plan is this one because it has two legislative houses (Bicameral), the Senate and the House of Representatives. We each get to vote for the representatives we want. The New Jersey plan only has one Legislative house (unicameral) and it only gets one vote for each state this is what deprived the smaller states from equality. The New Jersey Plan had so many disagreements that it had to appoint a “grand committee” and then it was known as the Great Compromise (An agreement between two or more sides in which each side gives up what some of what it wants).
There were two major plans for government submitted by the states: the Virginia plan- A.K.A the Large States plan, and the New Jersey Plan- A.K.A the Small States Plan. The Virginia Plan was made to specifically benefit the large, slave-holding, southern states. It called for a bicameral legislature which would take a state’s population into account when selecting the number of senators and representatives for a state. This would have given massive power to the southern states which had large populations due to slaves as opposed to the free, northern states. In reply to this was the New Jersey Plan, which was unicameral and gave equal representation to each state regardless of population.
Final Exam Part I: QA2 The Virginia Plan a New Constitution The Virginia Plan proposed a new Constitution designed as a republic and a strong national government. The most distinguished feature of the plan created structural changes as well as delegated sovereignty to the Federal government and the people. This transfer of power diminished the role of the States in the national government. The Virginia Plan structurally replaced the unicameral Congress by separating federal power among three branches of government, a bicameral legislature, an executive and a judiciary.
How the Virginia Plan and New Jersey Plan Effected Representation The idea of equal representation has been debated many times throughout the history of mankind. But equal representation is often not feasible without compromise which is exactly what happened in Philadelphia in the year 1787. The representation that was being questioned was how the small and large states could both be represented equally, and it is not shocked that both the small and large states had a plan of how the representation should work. “The one plan was federal, the other national,” (105)
“The accumulation of all powers..in the same hands, whether of one or many (is) the very definition of tyranny.” (James Madison, Federalist Paper #47, 1788) ( Background Essay) This quote explains the reasoning for one of the framers, (B) Separation of Powers. The framers of the constitution were created to prevent tyranny and create a stronger government that would hold the nation together. Tyranny ultimately means harsh, absolute power in the hands of one individual-- like a king or dictator. The constitution guarded against tyranny in 4 ways: (A)Federalism, (B)Separation of Powers, (C)Checks & Balances, and (D)Small State-Large State.
Virginia Plan The Virginia plan was proposed by an Edmund J. Randolph in May 28, 1787. The plan however was written by James Madison, a political theorist. The Virginia Plan was also called the Big State plan because it would mostly benefit the bigger states. The Virginia Plan was the first document to suggest a separation of powers into executive, legislative, and judicial branches, which would all be independent from one another.
The plan proposed by Virginia otherwise known as the “large-state plan.” Which proposed “a bicameral legislature, in which the lower house would be elected proportionately and the upper house would be selected from a list of nominees sent from the state legislatures on the basis of equal representation for the states. ”(add footnote) As the smaller states feared that this plan would lose a voice in the federal government if they continued with the Virginia plan, they opposed this plan and came up with one for themselves which would be known as the “small-state plan.” The small-state plan would propose “a unicameral Congress, with equal representation for each state, with all the powers of the Confederation Congress.
This plan made Congress awfully similar to when we were under the Articles because each state only got one vote, regardless of population, wealth, or any other factor. Despite its extreme similarity to the
The Virginia plan of course favored the southern colonies. The Virginia plan wanted two houses. These houses were both based on population. Both houses are made out of the House of Representatives. They would get more votes out of this and this would help them to say their ideas and have more political power.
Each state is represented by two seats in the Senate. In the House of Representatives, seats are apportioned among the states based on the relative population of each state to the total population of the union. Apportionment is presented in different voting situations in politics. When the class was taught about apportionment, the Hamilton method is what interested me the most. Cut The Know website
When the Great Compromise was drafted and reached at the constitutional convention of 1787 it was did make sense to allow each state, regardless of population, to have to have an equal number of senators, as this allowed each state to have a voice within the Senate. It also made sense for purpose of legislature that the number of delegates from each state within the House of Representatives was based on each state’s population as it allowed for a semi true representation of the populations within all states. The representation was only semi true as the states only counted select portions of the people within the state, omitting women, Native Americans and only counting 3/5ths of the slave population. As to whether this same calculation is fair for Electoral College purposes, I do not believe that it is.
DBQ Essay The United States Constitution is a document that or founding fathers made in order to replace the failing Articles of Confederation (A of C). Under the Constitution, the current government and states don’t have the problems they faced when the A of C was in action. The Constitution was created in 1788, and held an idea that the whole nation was nervous about. This idea was a strong national government, and the Federalist assured the people that this new government would work. The framers of the Constitution decided to give more power to the Federal government rather than the state governments because the A of C had many problems, there was a need for the layout of new government, rights, and laws, and there was a need for the Federal
Good morning my fellow Gentlemens. I am Nathaniel Gorham, delegate from the great state of Massachusetts. Today I would like to discuss defending proportional representation in both houses of the legislature. First and foremost , I want to persuade you gentlemen on why proportional representation is the best decision for this union and also persuade you gentlemens to why state sovereignty is a “phantom”. The roles I envision the states playing in a union more consolidated than the present confederation.