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The Virginia Plan Was A Constitutional Convention In 1787

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The Virginia Plan After events such as the Shays’ rebellion, in 1787, the founding fathers then called in place a constitutional convention to discuss the Articles of Confederation and its future. The constitutional convention on May 25th, 1787, was the beginning of many long and tension filled months that would be needed to articulate the Constitution we know of today. The convention ended on September 17, 1787. During that period, there were many plans that were discussed and argued. The first one mentioned was the Virginia Plan also known as the Randolph Plan, by Edmund Randolph. James Madison is usually given credit for the plan, because he was one of the seven delegates from the state of Virginia. However, Randolph was the governor of Virginia at that time, and had presented the plan in front of the convention on May 29, 1787 in 15 resolutions. The Virginia Plan was intended to follow the core principles of the New Science.
The New Science was an ideology that traced back to the French political scientist, Montesquieu. The New Science is summarized in one sentence “Liberty is a right of doing whatever the law permits, and if a citizen could do what they forbid he would be no longer be possessed of liberty, because all his fellow citizens would have the same power.” This provides a system that prevents legal officials from exceeding their legal authority. Montesquieu, along with the Virginia Plan, both …show more content…

This plan did ignite the constitutional convention however, it threw out the Articles of Confederation and created a working government. This was the beginning of many other proposals and influenced the constitution we have today. The Virginia Plan also welcomed new states, they would be able to create new states and include them into the United States of America. This would also create a strong federal

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