Compare And Contrast The Virginia Plan V. New Jersey Plan

During the Continental Convention Madison introduced The Virginia Plan. The Virginia Plan embodied his principal proposals, including a legislature of two houses with differing terms of office and with representation favoring the large states. He wanted the national government clothed "with positive and compleat authority in all cases which require uniformity. " The upper house of the legislature was to have a veto on the state legislation, and he proposed a national executive. The new government would have the power to enforce its laws.

Madison’s national veto also weakened the Virginia Plan, since the national government’s supreme judgment could only cause resentment by local authorities grappling with purely local issues. To counteract Madison’s bold proposal, delegates from the smaller states, headed by New Jersey’s William Paterson, offered a competing plan, the New Jersey Plan. To its credit, the New Jersey Plan amended the Articles of Confederation by adding a plural executive and a judiciary appointed by the executive branch. The New Jersey Plan proposed proportional representation in both houses of Congress to protect the smaller states. Although the addition of an executive would have strengthened the existing confederation, it resulted in a weak plural head of state. Furthermore, since the New Jersey Plan merely amended the Articles, and since the Articles had never been amended given the necessity of a unanimous vote by all of the states, the Plan was almost certainly doomed to

The two major plans proposed during the 1787 constitutional convention was The Virginia Plan and The New Jersey Plans. The Virginia Plans called for a strong national government branched into judicial, legislative and executive branches. The legislative branch would have two houses- the first house being chosen by the people and the second house by

During the Philadelphia convention, the Framers ran into many problems when talking about representation. Plans were proposed on how to run the government, including the Virginia and New Jersey Plan. These plans were centered on representation in Congress and how many houses there should be. The Virginia Plan proposed for Congress to be a bicameral legislature and for both houses to have proportional representation while the New Jersey Plan focused on having one house in Congress and have it be based on equal representation. This sparked disagreements when delegates from smaller states believed their voices would not be heard if the Virginia Plan became the outline for government, likewise delegates of larger states thought that in equal representation their voices would not be

During the constitutional convention, two plans were proposed to solve the problem of state representation in the government. The first of the two plans was the Virginia Plan, proposed by James Madison and the second being the New Jersey Plan, proposed by William Patterson. Both plans consisted of three branches of government, executive, legislative, and judiciary. however, the New Jersey Plan allowed for multiple executives. Additionally, the Virginia Plan had a bicameral legislature, both houses based on state's’ population or its wealth. The New Jersey Plan, on the other hand, has a unicameral legislature, with its single house giving a single vote to each state

In the “Virginia Plan vs. New Jersey Plan” both plans called for a strong national government with 3 branches which led to the Great Compromise. The Great Compromise provided for a bicameral congress. The bicameral structure wanted to accommodate both large and small states unlike the unicameral which only included the small vote.

Of the many plans to structure the government present the two that drew the most attention were the Virginia and the New Jersey Plans. Both of these plans were decimated by members of the convention for various reason. The plan from Virginia was viewed as a structure that would be more beneficial to larger states because it recommended an executive and judicial branches of government in addition to a two chambered congress with all representation based on the population of the state which was less beneficial to smaller states such as New Jersey. While the plan recommend called the New Jersey Plan would be just the opposite of the Virginia Plan since it called for a stronger national government to support the Articles of the Confederation with the ability to tax and regulate commerce between states. The New Jersey Plan also called for a single chambered congress and each state having one single vote. Deliberations lasted many weeks until finally

Hamilton expressed dissatisfaction with both of the plans brought forward to the convention. The Virginia plan, which was a proposal to completely abandon the Articles of Confederation, and replace it with a bicameral national legislature, an executive branch selected by the legislature, a judiciary, and a council of revision with the power veto, and the New Jersey plan, which suggested to keep the Articles of Confederation, but revise it to give Congress the power to tax, regulate commerce, and choose plural executive and members of a supreme court. Hamilton felt both these plans lacked a strong central government. He was specifically displeased with the New Jersey plan “being fully convinced” Madison writes “that no amendment of the Confederation, leaving the States in possession of their Sovereignty could possibly answer the purpose.” pg 18-19. He feared that either of these plans would leave the newly founded country weakened and “…would ultimately destroy the confederation…” pg 20. Finally, though Hamilton would given the federal government more power, he supported what was to be and is now the Constitution of the United States of America and he became one of its leading supporters during the ratification process. Though Jefferson was unable to join the convention due to his duties in France as

The Articles of Confederation were chosen as the first government of that time because the people wanted to try and make it better than the tyrannical government they lived under previously. After the French and Indian War, the attacks and threats for invasion proved as a difficulty since there were many different, independent (state) governments and not one unified government. The colonists started thinking of creating a stronger central authority government to conduct and run wars, and deal with other threats effectively. Ben Franklin suggested the Albany Plan, but the plan was rejected since it would destroy the states’ power. Another plan, the Galloway Plan, was voted down by Congress. Finally, the Articles of Confederation was written,

Prior to the adoption of the constitution by the United States the formal and legal document used to govern the United States was called the Articles of Confederation. This draft was finalized in the summer of 1777 and was adopted by the Second Continental Congress. This document was deemed ineffective rather quickly due to the lack of several issues not being addressed like the government not having the authority to tax the people of the United States. Another issues with this document was that it gave all of the national government’s power and duties to a single chamber legislature known as Congress. This raised many concerns and caused the delegates to convene and work on a new plan that would be more effective. The Virginia Plan was created

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 contained many points but some of the main points consist of the Virginia plan, the New Jersey plan, and the great compromise. The Virginia plan was initiated by James Madison had a strong central government with legislature seats based on a state’s population. The New Jersey Plan was conducted by William Paterson also has a strong central government that endorsed equal representatives throughout the states. The great compromise was imitated to settle the disagreements between the north and south. The great compromise stated a two-house legislature the seats for one of the houses was based on population of the state and the other houses seats were distributed upon states. The great compromise set up a strong

The authors did a good job stating facts about both plans while staying partial to neither of them. On page 32 in the second paragraph the authors write “For instance, it did go a long way in meeting the objectives of those who wanted a stronger union, such as that envisioned in the Virginia Plan, by granting the central government taxing powers and control over interstate and foreign commerce, and by providing as well that its laws would be the “supreme law of the of the respective states…” These together shows the readers a lot of information about the two plans.

There were plenty of differences between the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation. When the American Revolution ended the free states needed some sort of control that would create a unified country. There were problems such as how power between local and national governments would be divided, how laws should be made and by whom, who will govern the laws, and how will the government be created to protect individual rights came into thought. Their first attempt at solving these issues was the Articles of Confederation. The AOC was a failure for the most part, but not entirely. After it failed, the state delegates tried to revise the articles, but instead the Constitution was created. There were so many changes made and very little remained the same as the AOC.

Why did the Americans select the constitutional order they did in 1787-1789, and why did they reject a more democratic and confederal form not more than a decade old? In 1787, twenty-nine delegates convened in Philadelphia to tweak the Articles of Confederation. Some delegates, however, arrived with the intention of creating a completely new constitution. James Madison proposed the Virginia Plan, a plan which advocated a balanced, three-branch method of government with a bicameral, or two-house, Congress. In contrast, William Paterson submitted the New Jersey Plan which merely amended the Articles by giving the federal government more power. Ultimately, the Articles were abolished, the Virginia Plan was chosen, and the Constitution was