Congress Bicameral Analysis

The Virginia plan proposes that the National Government be made up of three branches. These are: a supreme Legislative, Executive and Judiciary. It further proposes that the number of houses in the congress to be two, the first and the second one. Members of first house of the congress are supposed to be elected by people of the different states for a term of three years while Members of the second house are to be chosen by the individual legislatures for a term of seven years.

During the 1787 Constitutional Convention, two plans were drafted and proposed that ultimately affected the final draft of the Constitution. The first plan was the Virginia Plan, which offered two chambers, or a bicameral legislature, and representation would be based solely on the population of each state. The counterproposal to this plan was the New Jersey Plan, proposing a unicameral legislature in which each state would have a single vote, regardless of the state size. Ultimately the Virginia Plan was used, however several ideas from the New Jersey Plan were added as introduced by the Connecticut Compromise.

The two plans differ in many ways. The Virginia plan was based on population weighted representation in the national legislature. The Virginia plan had three branches of government namely, executive, legislative, and judicial. The plan had two houses. The legislative branch is elected by the people, while the legislative branch would elect the executive branch. The first house of legislation will be of three years terms while that of second house would be of seven year. New Jersey plan on the other hand had one branch of government. This plan had only one house and all states can equally vote. Hence, there will be equal representation. The government is divided into executive, legislative and judiciary branch.

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

On June 15, 1787 at the Constitutional Convention the New Jersey Plan, also known as the Small State Plan, was proposed by William Patterson. The Small State Plan would give equality to all of the states by giving them equal representation in congress. Each state got one vote in congress. The goal of the plan was to keep all of the state’s equal no matter the population size. It also stated the government had the power to tax the colonies. It also would make 3 branches of government, legislative, executive, and judicial. The small state plan effects still remain within our government as each state can only send two representatives into the senate.

The first was called the Virginia plan, and was developed by James Madison. It proposed two houses, both based on population, which that the larger states had more say than the smaller ones. The second proposal was the New Jersey plan, proposed by William Patterson. This proposal wanted one house where all states got equal

James Madison once said that, “The accumulation of all powers… in the same hands, whether of one, a few or many (is) the very definition of tyranny.” (Introduction Document) However, in more modern words tyranny can be described as “harsh, absolute power in the hands of one individual- like a king or dictator.” (Introduction Document) The American colonies had just freed themselves from the tyranny of King George III, and were in search of a frame of government to rule by.

Delegates feared that the national government would have too much power over the states. William Paterson came up with the New Jersey Plan. The Plan proposed for changes in the Articles of Confederation that would let Congress regulate trade and tax imports, but would maintain state power. The New Jersey Plan proposed a single legislature, a government that relied on the authority of the state governments, more than one executive and one vote of legislation for each state. The plan allowed each state to keep its independence. The plan did not stop the states from violating foreign treaties, or from entering into treaties, or wars. James Madison was against the New Jersey Plan. Madison insisted that the New Jersey Plan did not improve any of the flaws of the Articles of Confederation. The Virginia Plan was finally approved as the plan to be used to construct the new government. The approval of the Virginia Plan meant that the delegates were now committed to creating a new

Virginia plan placed a lot of power in the legislative branch, and had a system very similar to the one we use today. The branch is split up into two houses, the House of Representatives, as well as the Senate. The number of officials in these institutions would be based solely on population, or their contribution to the federation. They would be voted on by the people, for the House of Reps, and the Senate would then be chosen by government officials. This was a very scary plan to the smaller states, who much rather favored the New Jersey plan. This option outlined a very equal playing field for all states. There is a one house legislature system, with equal representation across the board. All decisions were made based on the state’s

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

It made several proposals regarding the structure and powers of the federal government. Under the Virginia Plan, both houses in the legislature would have their representatives decided according to a state's number of free citizens. It was assumed by Madison that both large and small states would agree to this proposal; however, the smallest states were opposed because they knew they would have less Congressional power under this governmental structure. Roche uses words like "militant" and "truly radical" when describing the structure of the federal government under the Virginia Plan. Both he and Lance Banning relate the support Madison's plan received to the delegates' memories of the behavior of state legislatures under the Articles of Confederation. It is not surprising, therefore, that some delegates first supported a plan that would protect against abuses of power by the states. In response to the Virginia Plan, states' righters began supporting the New Jersey Plan, which called for equal representation in every state. Roche describes it as a "reversion to the status quo under the Articles of Confederation with but minor

The Virginia Plan sparked debate over its legislative representative proposals. The plan proposed representation of the states by population. This proposition favored the larger states. The Jersey Plan also known as the smaller state plan rallied for equal representation for all states. A compromise was finally reached. One house of the legislature would consist of two representatives from each state. This satisfied the small states. The second house of the legislature would consist of representatives based on population, thus satisfying the larger states. The establishment of a fair measure to apply taxation and representation in the legislature was described in the Federalist Papers: The Apportionment of Members among the States. The government would conduct a census that would prevent the states from understating their population for taxation and overstating their population for representation. The “Great Compromise” resolving the issue of representation did not mean that the federalists and anti-federalists had come to agreement on the Constitution.

The most significant meetings began in May 1787, where 55 delegates met in the Pennsylvania State house. The Demographic make-up of Constitutional Convention delegates consisted of important leaders such as Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Alexander Hamilton, as well as lawyers, merchants, and planters. From this meeting, the delegates agreed to create a new government. In order to solve the problem of unequal representation of states based on population, James Madison proposed the Virginia plan, which suggested a bicameral legislature, in which members of house would be elected based on population. This proposal was mainly objected by the smaller states, fearing the loss of influence to larger states. In the other hand, William Paterson proposed the New Jersey plan, where each state had an equal vote, which was favored by the smaller states. The complication was solved when Roger Sherman proposed the Great Compromise. It called for a two-house Congress. The upper house, or the senate would have equal representation, while the size of the population would determine the lower-house, or the House of Representatives. This proposal both satisfied the big and small states as the voters had the power to elect representatives while preserving the power of the

As it comes to what powers of the state and government come to, the Delegates had problems, “There was consensus on only one thing: A new and more effective central government was essential. But there was no consensus on what powers that government should have, the form that government should take, or how representation in that government should be determined” (pg 71). During convention plans were made to set bases of how the government was supposed to work which the Virginia plan played a major role in. The Virginia plan, set down by James Madison ideas and represented by Edmund Randolph talked about setting down a supreme Legislative, Executive and Judiciary. Madison believed that the separation of power between three branches will establish