ipl-logo

To What Extent Was The Constitutional Convention Of 1787

584 Words3 Pages

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 brought politicians from different states together in order to create a more complex and centralized form of government. The Virginia Plan was brought forward by James Madison, a representative of Virginia, who wanted to create a more centralized and powerful national government, that would benefit the larger states if it was implemented. The main political dilemma was to construct a central government that would provide the necessary national goods without interfering or endangering the power of the states. Some of the issues discussed at the Convention that were brought forward by the representatives were congressional representation, the appointment of House seats, the national assumption of state debts, the regulation of tariffs and the presidential powers, which were later on incorporated in what is known today as the Constitution. …show more content…

Madison’s plan would abolish slavery and establish proportional representation, make the House of representatives the foundation of national policy making and its members would be chosen directly by voters. The Virginia Plan would limit the power of the states, and would give smaller states less power which sparkled opposites sides like Dickson and Sherman that urged delegates to focus on specific authority in the new government instead of an abstract representation. The core of the opposition was made of smaller states that were afraid they wouldn’t be given as much representation and what a central government with that much power could do. Many of the southern states were afraid they would not get as much representation in the House, as these states were mainly composed of slaves, and at the same time were against the broadening of the national

Show More
Related

  • When Was The Virginia Plan Proposed By Edmund Randolf

    137 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Virginia Plan was a plan drafted by James Madison and was presented by Edmund Randolf. It was presented to the Constitutional Convention on May 29, 1787. According to the plan, a strong central government had three branches: legislative, judicial, and executive. The plan also proposed two houses: the first one had members elected by the people for three-year terms; the second one had older leaders elected by the state legislatures for seven-year terms. The role of the plan was important for “setting the stage for the convention.”

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The New Jersey Plan Vs Virginia Plan

    208 Words  | 1 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • How Did The Virginia Plan A New Constitution

    315 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Virginia Plan Presented In 1787 By Edmund Randolph

    411 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Virginia plan presented in 1787 by Edmund Randolph was one option on how the United States should be governed. Their key points were for Congress to have 2 houses and for representation to be based on population. Another option was the New Jersey plan which was presented by William Paterson in the same year. This was to oppose the Virginia plan because not everyone agreed with what was written.

    Read More

  • How Did Randolph Develop A System Of Government

    774 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Virginia Plan was a huge part in forming the constitution we have today. Without it, we may not even have our government. Many others did not like the Virginia Plan because it would provide a too weak of a government. The Virginia Plan was brought in to the convention to revise and edit to form the basis of our government. It stated that there would be three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Virginia Plan

    593 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Virginia plan was the first proposal that was largely created by James Madison creating a strong system that had a two house legislature, a chief executive chosen by the legislature, and a court system. The lower house was largely elected by the people. The people in the lower house then elected the people in the upper house. The people that were elected were the ones who then chose the ones who chose the person in the upper house. He also came up with the checks and balances which were very important for Madison was more of a federalist than an anti-federalist.

    Read More

  • Constitutional Convention Dbq

    297 Words  | 2 Pages

    In May 25, 1787, a convention was called in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to express the purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation. However, the intention from many delegates was to draft a new constitution; create a new government rather than fix the existing one. Rhode Island was the only one of the 13 original states to refuse to send delegates to the Constitutional Convention. At the Convention, the first issues they had to address was the representation in Congress.

    Read More

  • Constitutional Convention Dbq

    398 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Constitutional Convention took place from May 25th, 1787 to September 17th, 1787 in the city of Philadelphia. The official purpose of the convention was to amend the articles of Confederation/ how the country was going to be governed. Although the convention had been called for revising the Articles of Confederation, two delegates (James Madison and Alexander Hamilton) wanted to make a totally new government. Seventy delegates from each original state were supposed to come to the Constitutional Convention, but only 55 out of the 70 arrived. The first two months of debating were only about the 15 points of the “Virginia Plan” that James Madison thought of to replace the Articles of Confederation.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College

    1344 Words  | 6 Pages

    History During colonial days, Founding Fathers were debating how the country should be represented in the federal government. On one side was the Virginia plan written by James Madison, he thought that states

    Read More

  • Initial Purpose Of The Constitutional Convention

    752 Words  | 4 Pages

    Constitutional Convention: Summarization of the Plans The initial purpose of the Constitutional Convention of 1786 in Philadelphia was to discuss and reform The Articles of Confederation; however, many forward-thinking politicians and citizens felt that the Articles fell short in many areas and proved to be a weak agreement that did not encourage unity among the now states, original 13 colonies, and failed to provide security against foreign enemies because funds were not raised or directed to fund military forces (Schmidt et al. 29-31). There were three plans that were presented and considered: The Virgina Plan, The New Jersey Plan, and The Connecticut/Compromise Plan. The Virginia Plan (Leffler 2016, The Virginia 2005, Schmidt et al.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Great Compromise

    298 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Great Compromise which was founded at the Constitutional Convention wasn't formed without trouble. Many of the delegates that participated in the convention were wealthy landowners and lawyers, who owned many slaves. They failed to notice the diversity that excited within the nation. As they talked how to repair the Articles of Confederation, issues would arise that would create continuous debates amongst each other. One of the issues that would arise would be the nature of the new government.

    Read More

  • The Virginia Plan

    487 Words  | 2 Pages

    James Madison worked on bettering the document while he waited for the Constitutional convention of 1787. The Virginia Plan set forth the idea of population-weighted representation in the proposed national legislature. One of the big debates to get passed was how to value a state's legislative power. In the articles of confederation each state had one vote in a unicameral legislature.

    Read More

  • Constitutional Convention Dbq

    844 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Constitutional Convention was a meeting held in Philadelphia in 1787 to frame the Constitution. During this convention, the thirteen original states or colonies were the first to ratify this document. Under the Articles of Confederation, many leaders believed that the central government did not have enough authority. Therefore, instead of amending the Articles of Confederation, delegates, from different states, drafted a new written document with rules and regulations for a new federal government. In this government, three branches of government were formed: legislative, judicial and executive.

    Read More

  • The Three Compromises Made In The Constitutional Convention

    1593 Words  | 7 Pages

    After deciding to write a new constitution, the delegates could not decide what new form the government should take. One of the options was the Virginia Plan created by Edmund Randolph and James Madison. The plan included a strong government with three branches (the legislative branch, The judicial branch, and the executive branch). In the Virginia Plan, the legislator would consist of two houses and seats would be awarded on the basis of the population. Due to the fact that the seats are awarded based on population, larger states would have more representatives than smaller states.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Great Compromise And The Three Fifths Compromise

    360 Words  | 2 Pages

    The United States constitution has been named a bundle of compromises because the delegates to the Constitutional convention in 1787 had to compromise on many different main ideas in order to establish a new enhanced constitution that is suitable to each of states. Two compromises that had a significant impact on American society and made the United States constitution become a reality are The Great Compromise and the Three-Fifths Compromise. The moral issue is the lack of representation in Congress. Representation in Congress was dealt with at the Constitutional Convention and has had significant impact on American society. Thus leading to the topic The Great Compromise.

    Read More

More about To What Extent Was The Constitutional Convention Of 1787

Open Document