A little over a decade after having declared their independence from Great Britain and working together to agree on a rudimentary constitution, the thirteen American colonies found themselves divided on a new issue. Governed by the Articles of Confederation, it soon became evident to all the sovereign states that this doctrine was inadequate, thus the provinces of the east coast convened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This was the stage for the Constitutional Convention of 1787, where James Madison, William Paterson, and Roger Sherman all argued three of the most crucial proposals that served as aggregates to the United States Constitution. These proposals were known as The Virginia Plan, The New Jersey Plan, and the resulting Connecticut Compromise. Although the convention was originally intended to amend parts of the Articles of …show more content…
Ernst 24). The plan included 15 proposals and traced the outline of what would become the United States Constitution. In addition to the bicameral legislature, the plan also requested that the government be separated into three branches, the executive, legislative, and judicial. Virginia’s plan also would have given…” congressional representation in both chambers of Congress according to each state’s population, which would have given larger states like Virginia greater political representation” (Frantzich, Stephen E.; Howard R. Ernst 24). Under the Articles of Confederation, states at the time shared equal representation regardless of size, but Madison and Randolph’s proposal would shift the power of government in their favor and swathe the political powers of the smaller states, such as New Jersey. This proposal did not go unchallenged and on June 15, 1878, William Paterson would also present his own
When making a national government, two plans were proposed, the New Jersey plan and the Virginia plan. The new Jersey plan proposed to have three branches (legislative, judicial, and executive), but the legislative branch would be elected by each state, regarding size. The judicial branch would be appointed by the executive branch, who would be appointed by the legislature. These factors are made considering New Jerseys size. At this time period, many states thought that that size and population meant a lot towards the national government.
The Great Compromise refers to the issue of representation of states in the United States Legislature. When the Constitution was being drafted, the issue of representation between big and small states was a major issue. The Virginia Plan laid out by Edmund Randolph stated that states should be represented based on their population, and the amount of revenue they contributed to the federal government. This plan favored larger states because under this plan larger states would have a lot more representation than smaller states. “The Virginia Plan was thought to be heavily biased in favor of the large states.”
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.
As the Constitutional Congress were creating America’s new government from scratch, a problem came into their hands. They couldn’t decide whether to have equal representation or representation proportional (corresponding in size) to each state's’ population. Each of them either favored smaller or bigger states. Such as the Virginia Plan, this plan favored big states because it stated that the bigger the population, the more representatives they get. On the other hand, the New Jersey plan favored smaller states because it stated that no matter how big or small the population is, they get an equal amount of representatives.
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.
The Virginia Plan, created by James Madison, proposed that the Articles of Confederation to be “scrapped” or thrown out, and that the people would make a new National Government which has the power to make laws binding upon the states, to raise its own money through taxes, and to regulate trade throughout the states. The mayor, Edmund Randolph, introduced this plan. It was wildly popular throughout the states and was put into effect. It was significant in creating our new government simply because it got rid of the Articles of Confederation. It made it possible for the federal government to not only gain money from tax from the states, but it also impacted the creation of our new government.
A number of different frameworks were considered but the debate quickly centered around two different plans; New Jersey (aka “Little State”) and Virginia (aka ‘big state”). The major difference between the two plans was in how the “votes” of the 13 states (actually 12 since Rhode Island didn’t attend…) would be counted (based upon population or simple equality of states). In the end Connecticut provide a compromise (aka “Great Compromise”) that took the best of both plans and created a federal republic based on a separation of powers, checks and balances, protection of private property, and the interests of
It was written by William Patterson. The New Jersey plan favored giving control of the federal government to the states, not the people through their representatives. They proposed a unicameral legislature of only one house. This called for equal representation in which each state had the same number of representatives. The New Jersey Plan also called for Separation of Powers consisting of legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
So to speak, it would balance out the powers between Small States and Large States. (A)Federalism, (B)Separation of Powers, (C)Checks and Balances, and (D)Small States-Large States are all the ways the framers of the constitution guarded against tyranny. Separation of Powers is one of the most important framers of the constitution because it helped separate all the branches to lead to liberty for our
If I understand the language, this plan proposed three branches, legislative, executive, and judicial, and called for unity among the states to ensure the safety and protection of all people represented in The Articles of Confederation. Governor Randolph proposal included a National Legislature (congress) with two branches and the number of representatives per state would be determined by the population of that state, and a National Executive and two judicial branches. Where the members of the first legislature branch would be elected by the people of each state to represent their constitutes and their interests. However, the second branch as well as the National Executive and judicial branches – a supreme tribunal and inferior tribunal, would be elected and appointed by the first branch. The National Legislation branches would be able to introduce and pass laws; and oversee and enforce the laws of the United States.
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.
198). This was known as the New Jersey Plan. In the text, Experience History, it states that this plan raised Congress’s power to tax and regulate trade, and kept national government a unicameral. Though it did not take long before the delegates rejected Paterson’s plan and going back to Madison’s plan. The problem with this plan was the idea of the seats being proportional to the states because some states were bigger than others (Davidson, et al., 2013, p. 198).
Claim A: Under the Virginia Plan, the population would determine representation in each of the two houses of Congress. Claim B: Delegates from less-populous states wanted to amend the Articles of Confederation to protect their equal standing, which would preserve each
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.
These authorities that the national government should have, were all up to the states to decide under the Articles. With the taking away some of the states rights in the Constitution, Anti-federalists feared that this would leave the states too weak, resulting in more problems. Under the new Constitution, many powers that were now in the government 's hands are: the power to levy and collect taxes, the power to regulate interstate commerce, the government set up a national court system consisting of district, circuit, and a supreme court, the government could enforce laws, there was now a house based on population, and a senate based on equal representation (two votes per state), to amend the Constitution, a ⅔ vote of Congress was needed, and a ¾ vote of the states were needed, and a majority rule was needed to pass bills. These new powers and abilities of the national government helped to create a strong, new